Voter Support
Voter Support of RCV
As part of the two surveys conducted by Eagleton Poll with Professors Tolbert and Donovan, likely voters were asked whether they supported the use of RCV in local elections. Click here for more information on the two surveys.
The surveys found a majority of all respondents believed RCV should be used in local elections in their city. Support was greatest in cities already using RCV: in the 2013 survey, 62% of those in RCV cities supported its use in their local elections; in the 2014 survey in California, 57% of respondents in cities using RCV supported its use. In cities that use plurality voting methods, 49% of respondents in the 2013 survey supported the introduction of RCV for their local elections and in the 2014 survey in California 54% supported the introduction of RCV into their city.
In an informal exit poll at one polling place in Portland, Maine, in November 2015, 90% of mayoral voters with an opinion surveyed supported the use of RCV for the mayoral election and 70% of voters surveyed supported the introduction of RCV for Maine state elections.
In-depth: Socio-economic and Demographic Variations in California
Fine grained analysis by socio-economic and demographic groups is possible for the California 2014 poll. In the immediate aftermath of the 2014 election, ranked choice voting garnered overall support in the 11 California cities surveyed:
- Among all likely voters with an opinion about RCV, 57% in the four Bay Area cities that use RCV agreed that “ranked choice voting, where voters can rank candidates in order of preference with their first choice counting most, should be used in local elections” in their city.
- A majority backed RCV in each city, including 60% in Oakland.
- Even in cities that do not use RCV, a majority of likely voters (54%) supported RCV.
- In all 11 cities surveyed, RCV support was greatest among people of color, young people, and low-income voters (Figures 1 and 2).
- A majority of most demographic groups supported RCV. The strongest support for RCV came from respondents aged under 30 years (61%), with a family income under $40,000 (63%), who did not attend college (65%) as well as Asian (72%) and Latino (59%) respondents.
Figure 1: Support for RCV, Select Demographics, All surveyed cities
Figure 2: Support for RCV, Socioeconomic Groups, All surveyed cities
Further reading:
- Haley Smith, Sarah John and Andrew Douglas summarize the findings from the 2013 and 2014 surveys in Ranked Choice Voting in Practice: Candidate Civility in Ranked Choice Elections, 2013 & 2014 Survey Brief.
- Sarah John explores likely voters' perceptions of campaign tone and civility in the 2014 poll of California cities in Ranked Choice Voting in Practice: Candidate Civility in Bay Area Elections, November 2014.
- Sarah John reports on the socioeconomic and demographic aspects of support for and experiences with RCV in local elections in Socioeconomic and Demographic Perspectives on Ranked Choice Voting in the Bay Area.
- Andrew Douglas explores the findings from the 2013 survey in Ranked Choice Voting and Civility: New Evidence from American Cities.
- Professor Caroline J. Tolbert examines voter experiences in the 2013 election season in Tolbert, Caroline J. Experiments in Election Reform: Voter Perceptions of Campaigns Under Ranked Choice Voting vs. Plurality Voting. Paper prepared for the Workshop on Electoral Systems, Electoral Reform, and Implications for Democratic Performance. Stanford University, March 14-15, 2014.
