If the Iowa caucuses were any indication, the most indicted former president in U.S. history still has a strong grip on the Republican party.
According to a recent Berkeley Institute poll, two-thirds of California Republicans support Donald Trump’s 2024 bid. But among all California voters, almost two-thirds have an unfavorable view of the former president.
Why is Trump so disliked in many parts of California, but so popular in others? KNX News Chief Correspondent Charles Feldman went in depth with David McCuan, a political analyst and political science professor at Sonoma State University.
“California is both diverse and dramatically different than the rest of the nation, but it's also a place that not that long ago was Republican,” McCuan said.
He said there’s a deep divide between Californians in coastal cities, who tend to lean Democratic, and residents of inland counties, who more often favor Trump.
“We see that divide for a couple of reasons. One is the type of voter, who they are, where they live,” he said. “We have this thing called the Rising American Electorate, the RAE. This is a more urban, more diverse voter. They tend to be younger, but they're less wed to party …. The regular habitual population is whiter, older, and more affluent tends to trend red, tends to trend, if you will, to the Republican side.”
Those emerging voters who skew blue or purple will be key to swinging the election, McCuan said, particularly in suburban areas in places like Pennsylvania and Georgia.
“There are 3100 counties in the United States, but there’s only 8 to 10 counties where the battle of the purple people really occurs,” he said.
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But even if Biden likely has California locked down, the state’s cultural divide will still have an impact. Further down the ballot, the very purple Orange County’s congressional races are expected to be among the most competitive in the country.
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