When it comes to many of the Golden State’s undecided voters, President Joe Biden and presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump both need to do the same thing if they want their votes come November: be more likeable.
A statewide survey released Friday suggests just that, with those less likely to vote this election citing a dislike of the presidential candidates as a chief reason why they may stay home, followed by an impression that special interests and big money are “controlling things.”
The statewide survey by UC Berkeley Institute for Governmental Studies concluded a significant majority of the state’s voters — 78% — are highly likely to participate in the general election. Yet for those Californians not yet decided or deemed unlikely to vote — a key group Democrats and Republicans will spend the next several months appealing to — a lack of enthusiasm and lack of trust may be the biggest hurdles.
The survey, taken from a polling of 5,095 registered California voters last week, also highlighted significant differences in voter enthusiasm among race and age groups.
“The results suggest that overall engagement with the election is reasonably high in California, but the big gaps across racial and ethnic subgroups and age cohorts underscore that interest in this election is far from universal,” said IGS co-director Eric Schickler. “Dissatisfaction with the two major party candidates may be a substantial obstacle in mobilizing turnout to the level seen in 2020.”
Most white voters, 90%, say they are highly likely to vote. In contrast, 70% of Latino voters, 66% of Black voters and 62% of Asian American voters say the same. Among age groups, most voters 65 or older intend to vote, while younger voters are less likely. Just 60% of those between the ages of 18 and 29 say they are highly likely to vote, and 75% of those between 30 and 39.
More: Is Black voter support down for President Joe Biden compared to 2020?
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But for these unenthusiastic voters, they also pointed to a handful of factors they say could increase their chances of participating. Most frequently they point to having access to an unbiased and trusted course of news about the election, feeling that ballot measures and candidates would advance their interests, feeling there are differences between candidates on issues important to them and “if election results were more trustworthy.”
Fewer than half of Americans have “a great deal” or “quite a bit” of confidence that votes will be counted accurately in 2024, a result of repeated attacks on election integrity by Trump and false claims the election was “stolen” from him in 2020. Despite the evidence proving there was no fraud affecting the 2020 election outcome, including from Trump’s own attorney general, Justice Department and exhaustive partisan and non-partisan reviews, distrust in the electoral system continues.
A January USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll found 52% of Trump supporters said they had no confidence the 2024 elections will be accurately counted and reported, while 81% of Biden supporters were “very confident” about election integrity.
“With many lower-propensity voters responding that they believe special interests and big money control outcomes, some saying their vote doesn’t matter and others saying they can’t trust election results, it’s clear that when it come to our politics, belief is low and cynicism is high,” Jonathan Mehta Stein, executive director of California Common Cause, said in a statement on the survey results.
Kathryn Palmer is an elections fellow for USA TODAY. Reach her at kapalmer@gannett.com and follow her on X @KathrynPlmr.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Undecided California voters dislike Trump and Biden
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