2006 California gubernatorial election


The 2006 California gubernatorial election occurred on November 7, 2006. The primary elections took place on June 6, 2006. The incumbent Republican Governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, won re-election for his first and only full term. His main opponent was California State Treasurer Phil Angelides, the California Democratic Party nominee. Peter Camejo was the California Green Party nominee, Janice Jordan was the Peace and Freedom Party nominee, Art Olivier was the California Libertarian Party nominee, and Edward C. Noonan was the California American Independent Party nominee.
Under the California Constitution, the Governor serves a four-year term, with a maximum limit of two consecutive terms. Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected during the 2003 California recall and served out the remainder of Gray Davis's term; he was eligible to serve until 2011. As of, this is the most recent election in which a Republican won a Gubernatorial or statewide election in California.
Exit polls showed Schwarzenegger won whites and Asian Americans and other minorities, while Angelides won African Americans and Latinos.

Primary elections (June 6, 2006)

Bar graph of statewide results
Results by county
The period for candidate nominations closed on March 24, 2006.

Democratic

Candidates

The two front-runners for the Democratic nomination were Angelides and California State Controller Steve Westly. A pre-election poll had Westly leading Angelides by six percentage points. The Field Poll conducted on April 17, 2006 showed that both Democratic candidates had low recognition factors amongst the state's electorate, with only 45% having any opinion on Angelides and 40% for Westly. Of registered Democrats surveyed, 59% said they didn't know enough about Angelides to have any opinion about him, with 58% saying the same for Westly. The Los Angeles Times reported that the race for the Democratic nomination was a virtual tie, with Angelides leading Westly by three percentage points, within the 3% margin of error. Unusually, 28% of Democratic voters were undecided, and both candidates tried to earn the undecided vote.
Angelides reported a recent increase in support for his campaign and gained union support as well as support from the "core" liberal constituency. The California Democratic Party endorsed him prior to the primary, despite most polls showing that Westly would fare much better against Schwarzenegger in the general election. However, many registered Democrats believed that Westly had a greater chance of winning against incumbent governor Schwarzenegger and felt that he had a slightly "more positive" image. In the end, Angelides won 47.9% of the vote to Westly's 43.4%. The turnout for the primary, was a record low 33.6%, far below the 38% predicted by the Secretary of State, with the turnout of valid ballots cast on election day at 28%.

Polling

Results

Republican

Candidates

Republican Schwarzenegger faced token opposition and won overwhelmingly in the primary held on June 6, 2006.

Results

Third parties

General election

Candidates

Schwarzenegger's decision to call the 2005 special election, as well as his propositions dealing with teachers' and nurses' unions and other political missteps, brought his approval rating down to 39% April 2006, though he ended up solidly defeating his opponents. During his first two years, he came under fire from some conservatives for supporting several taxes on Californians, and from some liberals for refusing to sign a bill allowing gay marriage, and his support for several controversial propositions in 2005. Later, Schwarzenegger's popularity with voters rebounded and he won reelection by a wide margin.

Polling

Hypothetical polling---

;Schwarzenegger v Westly

Results

Results by county
Results showed Schwarzenegger won 52 counties while Angelides won 6. Schwarzenegger won large majorities in California's rural counties, the populous Southern California counties of San Diego, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, and Ventura, as well as populous Sacramento, Fresno, and Kern counties in the Central Valley. The results were closely contested in Los Angeles County and in Bay Area suburban counties. Angelides won substantially only in Alameda and San Francisco counties.
CountySchwarzeneggerVotesAngelidesVotesCamejoVotesOthersVotes
Glenn76.50%5,77518.82%1,4211.46%1103.22%243
Modoc75.20%2,82919.22%7231.25%474.33%163
Tehama74.66%13,44220.36%3,6661.21%2173.78%680
Placer74.38%91,97221.61%26,7232.02%2,5011.99%2,456
Shasta73.92%43,43621.16%12,4341.38%8083.55%2,085
Colusa73.76%3,66522.22%1,1041.89%942.13%106
El Dorado73.37%49,77121.43%14,5352.82%1,9112.39%1,620
Sutter72.73%17,39322.95%5,4871.49%3572.83%676
Yuba72.62%10,12221.33%2,9732.47%3443.58%499
Amador72.09%10,75522.48%3,3542.61%3902.82%420
Kern72.06%108,25323.64%35,5121.17%1,7523.13%4,705
Madera71.12%21,41624.82%7,4731.17%3532.89%871
Tulare70.72%48,60725.57%17,5711.17%8012.55%1,751
Sierra70.60%1,13122.03%3533.87%623.50%56
Calaveras70.44%12,69123.69%4,2682.72%4903.15%567
Tuolumne70.18%14,83624.15%5,1052.69%5692.98%631
Orange69.70%507,41325.46%185,3881.32%9,6463.51%25,584
Plumas69.53%6,16024.76%2,1942.62%2323.09%274
Kings68.47%15,68327.70%6,3440.96%2192.87%658
Mariposa66.82%5,07426.14%1,9852.69%2044.35%330
Lassen66.03%5,66527.42%2,3531.84%1584.71%404
Fresno66.08%116,53430.39%53,6051.32%2,3242.21%3,900
Nevada66.03%28,57027.35%11,8334.58%1,9822.04%883
Butte65.82%45,59126.96%18,6724.20%2,9123.02%2,093
Siskiyou65.64%10,91627.75%4,6152.30%3834.31%717
Riverside65.49%251,96230.10%115,8031.12%4,3143.29%12,665
San Diego65.49%509,05930.22%234,9381.76%13,6532.53%19,655
Stanislaus64.91%67,42730.79%31,9811.53%1,5892.77%2,875
Trinity64.61%3,81927.31%1,6144.11%2433.98%235
Inyo64.39%4,18029.14%1,8922.03%1324.44%288
San Luis Obispo63.56%61,84231.42%30,5682.38%2,3192.63%2,563
Merced62.52%26,23133.43%14,0271.29%5432.76%1,158
Mono61.83%2,31531.41%1,1762.67%1004.09%153
San Bernardino61.63%212,20033.22%114,3881.27%4,3873.87%13,326
Ventura61.03%134,86234.30%75,7901.51%3,3293.16%6,984
Sacramento60.45%218,88934.16%123,6853.08%11,1702.31%8,351
San Joaquin60.32%83,95235.83%49,8681.46%2,0262.39%3,322
Santa Barbara60.01%73,67734.92%42,8802.56%3,1492.50%3,075
San Benito57.08%8,20837.55%5,4002.33%3353.03%436
Lake56.26%10,93036.19%7,0313.17%6154.39%853
Del Norte54.85%3,63938.15%2,5312.00%1334.99%331
Napa54.57%23,18738.84%16,5043.67%1,5592.91%1,238
Alpine54.23%29540.07%2182.57%143.13%17
Yolo53.39%29,07339.91%21,7334.78%2,6021.93%1,050
Monterey53.33%46,88240.69%35,7693.01%2,6462.97%2,609
Solano53.15%55,13041.94%43,5012.12%2,1942.80%2,901
Contra Costa52.42%158,56542.50%128,5782.82%8,5292.26%6,841
Santa Clara52.16%225,13242.87%185,0372.53%10,9322.45%10,554
Humboldt48.22%23,28241.56%20,0706.71%3,2413.51%1,693
San Mateo47.12%96,47847.42%97,0923.33%6,8222.14%4,372
Sonoma47.03%81,60844.60%77,3924.98%8,6473.38%5,867
Imperial46.73%10,36345.21%10,0243.18%7064.88%1,081
Los Angeles46.06%907,91949.07%967,1491.88%37,0292.99%58,979
Marin45.81%48,43947.70%50,4414.47%4,7242.02%2,139
Mendocino45.41%14,00244.72%13,7906.06%1,8693.80%1,173
Santa Cruz41.99%37,86648.36%43,6196.83%6,1562.83%2,548
Alameda36.59%148,32256.54%229,2174.50%18,2362.37%9,603
San Francisco29.75%72,72262.72%153,3355.39%13,1862.14%5,225

Democratic candidates

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