Democratic voters confident California election is secure, Republicans far lower, poll finds
California voters are deeply divided over the credibility of state elections heading into Tuesday’s election, with a majority of Democrats but less than half of Republicans expressing confidence in the election process, according to a new poll.
The divided opinion follows a multi-year campaign by President Trump and his Republican supporters to cast doubt on the validity of American elections, especially in California and other blue states. It also follows strong efforts from liberal leaders, election officials and voting rights experts to cast criticism of Trump’s claims as baseless.
Overall, registered voters in the state — which skews heavily Democratic — expressed confidence in local election officials by a 2-to-1 margin, with 65% expressing confidence and 31% expressing a lack of confidence, according to a poll released Tuesday by the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies and sponsored by The Times.
However, those figures change significantly when broken down by political party, and even more so when broken down by party affiliation.
For example, 79% of Democratic voters expressed confidence in local officials conducting safe and fair elections, compared to 62% of independent voters and 42% of Republican voters, the poll found.
While 82% of voters who identified as very liberal expressed confidence, only 38% of voters who identified as very violent did so.
A volunteer helps Melani Hurwitz at a polling place Monday at the Cal State Long Beach Walter Pyramid.
(Eric Thayer/Los Angeles Times)
“It’s clearly a collective issue, and it’s being promoted by the president and some of his supporters,” said Mark DiCamillo, director of Berkeley IGS polls. “Strong conservatives and Republicans are the least confident, and most of them say so [they are] I don’t trust myself at all. That is an extreme statement.”
Rick Hasen, an election law expert and director of the Safeguarding Democracy Project at UCLA Law, said he expects Republican confidence to be lower given Trump’s decade of undermining electoral trust, especially in liberal, diverse states like California. But he said neither Trump’s narrative nor public sentiment about election security — which shows voters are more confident “if their side wins” — reflects the truth, which is that “our elections are well managed.”
“There is very little evidence of fraud or fraud or even failure,” Hasen said. “Anyone who looks seriously will see that there are many safeguards in place to ensure that we have free and fair elections in California.”
Trump has long argued without evidence that voter fraud is rampant among undocumented immigrants and in states, such as California, that use postal ballots, and blamed his loss to Joe Biden in 2020 on such fraud despite experts denying the claim and Trump’s allies and lawyers unable to prove it.
A voter casts his ballot inside the Westchester Family YMCA Annex on Monday.
(Kayla Bartkowski/Los Angeles Times)
Since returning to the White House last year, Trump has tried to implement stricter requirements for voter ID and proof of citizenship and to limit or block voting, and has called for greater federal or Republican Party control over government-run elections. In February, he said that “Republicans should hold national polls” in “at least 15 states” where they lost.
On Saturday, Trump falsely claimed that California has no voting booths and only accepts mail-in ballots.
Democratic leaders, election experts and voting rights advocates have all pushed back. They backed up their assurances that the country’s elections were safe with lawsuits to block Trump’s bid for control of the state. They also warn that his administration may try to intervene anyway, including sending federal immigration agents to polling places or blocking or invalidating mailed ballots.
When Trump issued an executive order in March 2025 that required voters to provide proof of citizenship, California sued, with the court blocking the policy pending litigation. When the Department of Justice sued California Secretary of State Shirley Weber in September for refusing to hand over the state’s voter rolls, California won a dismissal in court. When Trump issued another executive order this March directing the US Postal Service to regulate mail-in voting, California sued again. That case is still ongoing.
Last week Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill that prohibits federal agents and other law enforcement officers from interfering with local and state election officials or seizing ballots, voter ID cards or voting machines without permission. Newsom said California voters face “legitimate concerns” about the integrity of the election given threats from the Trump administration and the recent actions of Sheriff Chad Bianco of Riverside County — a MAGA-backed Republican governor who recently confiscated hundreds of thousands of ballots as part of what he said was an investigation into possible fraud in last year’s election.
An election worker collects a mail-in ballot for compilation at the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clock Ballot Processing Center in Industry City.
(Gary Coronado / For The Times)
Newsom said he expects Trump to disrupt the next election because “everything Donald Trump has said suggests he will do more, not less, to intimidate and influence the outcome of this election,” but that the government is ready to respond.
California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta said last week that his office is preparing for “all different kinds of situations” involving federal interference, from vote-taking to immigration agents from polling places.
“We are currently monitoring any potential risks or threats, and we are prepared for anything that may happen,” he said.
Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) last week blasted the US Postal Service for issuing a proposed rule to implement Trump’s mail changes, despite ongoing lawsuits. In April, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) helped convene “shadow talks” in California where fellow House Democrats and a panel of experts shot down Trump’s allegations of widespread fraud and expressed confidence in state elections.
Last year’s Berkeley IGS Poll found that California voters support requiring first-time voters to show ID to prove citizenship in order to register, and that a majority support requiring a government ID every time a voter votes. However, another Berkeley IGS Poll from last month found that a majority of California voters believe that American democracy is under attack or “under attack.”
Dean Logan, head of the LA County clerk’s office, said the overall confidence, “despite the sometimes volatile nature and narrative of the country,” is “exciting.”
“Elections officials consider communication with the public to be important. We recognize that our job is to make voting easier, and that voter participation is essential to election security,” said Logan. “Regardless of party affiliation, our role as election officials is focused on the work and process of ensuring that the voice of the electorate is heard and that compliance with the election laws adopted in our province is achieved.”
Jesse Salinas, president of the California Assn. Yolo County Clerks and Election Officials and registrar of voters, said local election officials are “proud to be a strong source of trust at the right time,” and are ready to “open our doors to any voter who wants to see for themselves how our elections work and to answer any questions they may have.”
Times staff writer Iris Kwok contributed to this report.
