OC World guest host Gaddi Vasquez explores a recent Orange County poll

Join OC World guest host Gaddi Vasquez as he explores a recent Orange County poll conducted by UCI’s School of Social Ecology. Discover how the votes of Latino/Hispanic and Asian communities in Orange County could well shape the next election. Guests: Jon Gould, dean UC Irvine School of Social Ecology and senior fellow Mike Madrid.

Watch the video here.

A California toss-up seat could help determine control of the House. Asian Americans could steer the vote.

A district in Orange County, California, is set to be one of the most competitive national races in the fight to control the House of Representatives. But the November matchup between Democrat Dave Min and Republican Scott Baugh is notable for another reason: It’s one of the few toss-up seats over which Asian American voters hold an outsize influence.

​​California’s 47th Congressional District, where Asian American and Pacific Islanders make up a quarter of the population, has repeatedly flipped from Democrats to Republicans over the past decade. With the electorate nearly evenly divided between both parties, candidates are actively courting the AAPI population ahead of November’s election.

 Read more from NBC News here.

Berkeley falls into House GOP crosshairs

ORANGE COUNTY: Orange County would re-elect President Joe Biden if the election was held today, a UC Irvine poll [from the School of Social Ecology] shows. But residents who aren’t registered to vote are also more likely to be Donald Trump supporters. (The Orange County Register)

Read more from Politico here.

Column: Watch your step, Democrats. O.C.’s purple shine hides a red underbelly

In 2016, my beloved homeland of Orange County shocked political observers by favoring Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump, the first time we went with a Democrat for president since FDR.

In 2018, O.C. voters made history yet again when we sent an all-Democratic congressional delegation to Capitol Hill. The following year, more people in O.C. were registered Democrats than Republicans — another first.

Read more from the LA Times here.

Could Orange County help determine the balance of power in Congress?

Some Orange County residents are skeptical of election results, poll finds

A UC Irvine School of Social Ecology poll released last month offers some new insights into the electoral role that will be played by this purple county, which is almost evenly split between Democrats at 33%, Republicans, 32%, and Independents, 35%. My colleague Hannah Fry reported on some of the key poll findings.

Read more from the LA Times here.

Trump has never won a general election in OC. That may be due to election skepticism, a new poll finds

Former President Donald Trump may need to court Orange County residents who aren’t yet registered to vote if he wants to win the county in November.

If those 357,000 or so eligible voters register by the Oct. 21 deadline to participate in Election Day, Trump might be able to pull ahead of President Joe Biden in Orange County. But if the election were held today, Biden would beat Trump by eight points, according to a UC Irvine poll released this month.

Read more from The Orange County Register here.

Political impact of the college protests over the war in Gaza

Police on Tuesday arrested dozens of protesters at Columbia University, while protests continue at campuses throughout Southern California.

“Inside the Issues” host Amrit Singh is joined by Mike Madrid, political strategist and senior fellow at the UC Irvine’s School of Social Ecology, to discuss the growing protests on college campuses, their political impact and historical implications.

Watch the entire video here.

Orange County now politically purple

Orange County was once dominantly republican, voting for the GOP candidate in every president election between 1940 and 2012 but in recent years the district has shifted left. Jon Gould, dean of UCI School of Social Ecology, talks about the political shift.

Watch now on Fox 11 here.

Many O.C. residents deny Trump election results, potentially swaying key races, poll finds

Alex Lopez doesn’t contest that Joe Biden was elected president in 2020.

His concern lies with how those results came to be.

“By the numbers? He absolutely won it. Ethically? Probably not,” said the 38-year-old Anaheim resident, who works as a logistics coordinator.

Questions about the integrity of the election process have been stoked nationally for years, in large part because of former President Trump’s claims that victory was stolen from him.

Read more from the LA Times here.

Latest poll finds OC residents keep friendships despite politics

“PURPLE” COUNTY OFFERS MODEL FOR CONSENSUS

Even in a divisive time, most Orange County residents don’t break up friendships over political differences, according to the latest UCI-OC Poll.

The survey, sponsored by UC Irvine’s School of Social Ecology, asked respondents if they’ve ever ended a friendship over a political disagreement and 79% did not. In fact, the majority have close friends from across the aisle. And, only one-third report that most of their close friends share similar political views

Read more from the School of Social Ecology here.

What does Orange County’s presidential primary data suggest about Biden and Trump’s chances? 

More Orange County voters cast ballots for former President Donald Trump in the primary election than for President Joe Biden — but political experts say that doesn’t exactly spell trouble for the incumbent president.

Trump received the most votes in Orange County, 236,456, of the nearly 40 people on the presidential primary ballot, ahead of Biden only by about 18,500 votes.

Read more from The Orange County Register here.

Asian and Latino voters could decide competitive Congressional races in Orange County – KNX News On Demand

KNX News Chief Correspondent Charles Feldman looks into how Latino and Asian voters could play a major role in four highly competitive Congressional races in Orange County. Charles talks to Jon Gould, dean of the UCI School of Social Ecology. He led a new poll called “Red County, Blue County, Orange County.” Read more here.

Purple predictions

LATEST UCI-OC POLL FINDS ORANGE COUNTY COULD FORECAST UPCOMING ELECTIONS

Orange County has become a prism for understanding the relationship between the left and right in American political and cultural life. It is one of America’s few “purple” counties, where 51% of voters supported Hillary Clinton in 2016, and while Joe Biden won the county in 2020, Republican Brian Dahle beat incumbent Governor Gavin Newsom among OC voters in 2022. Read more here.

Wealthier Asian American and Latino voters in Orange County may be pivotal in upcoming elections

Robert Baca’s political compass has always pointed toward the Republican Party, but lately he hasn’t felt as at home in the GOP.

Though he voted for Donald Trump in the last two presidential elections, Baca distances himself from the culture wars that seem to fire up today’s die-hard Republicans. Instead, he wants Washington to tackle the turbulent economy and rising costs of daily life. Read more from the Los Angeles Times here.

Can public opinion reduce homelessness in Orange County? Experts say it might

This spring, when asked by pollsters from UC Irvine to rank the biggest problems facing Orange County, local residents listed homelessness 71% of the time and a related issue, lack of affordable housing, 69% of the time. Read more from the Orange County Register here.

UCI-OC Poll finds homelessness, affordable housing top resident concerns

More than 100 policymakers, community leaders and researchers met on campus Thursday to craft solutions for Orange County’s top concerns: homelessness and the lack of affordable housing in the county. Read more here.

(Full video replay here.)

School of Social Ecology, Orange County United Way present 2023 UCI-OC Poll findings

Researchers, policymakers and community leaders will discuss Orange County’s homelessness and housing issues as they unveil the findings of the 2023 UCI-OC Poll.

WHEN/WHERE: 3-5 p.m. Thursday, Aug.17, at the Cove at UCI, 5270 California Ave., Suite 100, Irvine, CA 92617. Learn more here.

UC Irvine poll: Homelessness, affordable housing top concerns in OC

Locals of all political stripes view the related problems as critical. The school wants to help politicians, nonprofits and others come up with solutions. Read more here.