Victorious Pair Received Solid Vote From Men

Dianne Feinstein and Rep. Barbara Boxer, trying to become the first California women ever elected to the U.S. Senate, received solid support from men as well as women in Tuesday’s Democratic primary, a Los Angeles Times exit poll found.

Both candidates campaigned hard on feminist issues, with Feinstein, a former San Francisco mayor, frequently asserting that “2% may be OK for milk, but it isn’t for the U.S. Senate”--a reference to the fact that only two women now serve in the 100-member upper house of Congress. Boxer had exhorted women as she campaigned side by side with Feinstein last weekend that Tuesday could be “an enormous golden moment in history.”

But men and women alike responded to their messages, according to Times Poll interviews with voters after they cast their ballots. Although there was a gender advantage for Feinstein and Boxer among women voters, both would have won their races even if only men had voted.

The Times exit poll found that Democratic voters were primarily influenced in the races by the desire to elect more women to the Senate and the candidates’ support of abortion rights, as well as their “honesty and integrity.” Voters also said they were swayed by the candidates’ potential to “bring change in Washington” and their positions on the environment.

Of much less importance to Democratic voters were the Persian Gulf War, the Los Angeles riots and the congressional check scandal, according to Times polling. The Democratic male candidates, in varying degrees, hit hard on these issues.

In his losing battle with Feinstein for the nomination to fill out the remaining two years of a Senate term once held by Republican Gov. Pete Wilson, state Controller Gray Davis ran TV commercials attacking mob violence in the riots. Likewise, Rep. Mel Levine of Los Angeles, one of Boxer’s opponents for the nomination to replace retiring Sen. Alan Cranston, ran strong law-and-order ads denouncing the looters and arsonists. The strategy failed for lack of compelling voter interest, it appears.

Levine, who relied almost entirely on TV commercials and mailers--rather than traditional campaigning--also trumpeted his support for the Gulf War. But this had virtually no impact on voters, the poll found. Levine and Lt. Gov. Leo T. McCarthy, another unsuccessful Boxer opponent, also assailed the Marin County congresswoman for writing 143 overdrafts at the now-defunct House bank. But Democratic voters generally--and Boxer’s supporters especially--did not regard the check overdrafts as a big deal.

In the two Republican Senate races, voters said they were primarily influenced by the candidates’ “honesty and integrity,” stands on abortion and abilities to “bring change in Washington.”

Unlike the Democratic primaries, candidates in the GOP races campaigned on both sides of the abortion issue.

In the tightly fought contest for the Republican nomination to replace Cranston, Los Angeles television commentator Bruce Herschensohn, an abortion opponent, ran evenly with his principal abortion rights foe, Rep. Tom Campbell of Palo Alto, among GOP voters who said this issue was a major influence in their balloting.

In the other GOP Senate race, appointed incumbent John Seymour--an abortion-rights advocate--was only narrowly favored by Republicans who regard abortion as a major issue, although he comfortably won his party’s nomination. His conservative opponent, Rep. William E. Dannemeyer of Fullerton, is strongly anti-abortion and appeared to be helped by this issue.

Herschensohn was seen by voters as a candidate of “integrity” and “change.” Campbell was helped by environmental issues, but this did not rank particularly high on the list of GOP voter concerns.

In the Democratic Senate races, it would be hard to overstate the importance of the abortion issue for Feinstein and Boxer. Of the Democratic voters who considered this a major subject, three-fourths supported Feinstein and two-thirds backed Boxer.

Forty-one percent of the voters supported both Feinstein and Boxer. These included 48% of the women voters and 33% of the men, according to early exit poll tabulations.

Roughly 6 in 10 men voted for Feinstein and about two-thirds of the women did. Nearly half the men supported Boxer, and slightly more than half the women did.

Feinstein’s support was very wide, but she especially was backed by liberals, college-educated voters, the affluent and fellow residents of the San Francisco Bay Area.

Boxer attracted liberals, younger voters, the college educated, the affluent and fellow residents in the Bay Area. McCarthy’s strongest support came from conservatives, the elderly, and the less educated.

In the Republican contest to replace Cranston, Herschensohn was especially supported by conservatives and Southern Californians. Campbell’s support was generally broad-based, although his biggest backing came from his home territory of the Bay Area.

Onetime entertainer and former Palm Springs Mayor Sonny Bono, who ran behind Campbell and Herschensohn, drew his biggest support from self-described GOP liberals, a relatively small element of the party.

In the other GOP race, Seymour was backed by virtually every demographic group and ran especially well among moderates and the elderly.

The Times Poll, directed by John Brennan, interviewed 7,152 voters at 120 precincts around the state. These included 4,253 Democrats and 2,899 Republicans. The polling places were scientifically selected to reflect voter turnout. The margins of error for each party were three percentage points in either direction.