Support for Prop. 50 rises to 57% in latest poll of likely voters
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POLL SHOWS PROP. 50 GAINING GROUND
A new poll shows likely California voters are swinging further toward supporting Proposition 50 as Election Day draws nearer.
The Emerson College Poll asked 900 likely California voters last week whether they’d vote for Prop. 50, which re-draws California’s congressional maps in favor of Democrats to offset changes favoring Republicans in Texas.
Fifty-seven percent of respondents said they’d support it, up from 51% in September. Thirty-seven percent of people said they would vote no, and six percent were undecided, with those people split between both sides of the issue.
The poll also asked likely voters whether the mid-decade redistricting was a “good idea.” Eleven percent of supporters are reluctant, saying they’d vote yes but that Prop. 50 is a “bad idea.”
The solidifying numbers for Prop. 50 come alongside an increasing approval rate for Gov. Gavin Newsom in the state — with 48% of respondents last week “approving” of his performance, up from 33% in April 2025.
California residents have just over a week left to cast their ballots for Prop. 50, and early in-person voting opened at many Sacramento County polling places on Saturday.
PLUS: The Emerson poll also took the pulse of how people are feeling about next year’s gubernatorial race. The frontrunners were: Republican Steve Hilton with 16% of the vote, Democrat Katie Porter with 15% and Republican Chad Bianco with 11%. Thirty-nine percent of voters are undecided, and the remaining vote was spread among the other Democrats in the race.
The biggest ripple in the still wide-open race has been the release of two video clips showing Porter getting testy with a reporter and a staffer, respectively. The clips don’t seem to have hurt her with Democrats polled (22% supported her in September and 23% do now), but among independents her approval took a hit, decreasing from 16% to 11%.
Hilton framed it as a win for him — a release from his campaign said the poll results “(identify) him as the main beneficiary of what analysts are calling the ‘Katie Porter Meltdown.’ ”
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“We will not permit tactics masquerading as oversight to erode voter confidence or intimidate Californians. Our voters have earned the right to cast their ballots free from surveillance or interference — from anyone. In California, election integrity is not a talking point; it’s a practice built on decades of professionalism and public trust. We intend to keep it that way.”
— Secretary of State Shirley Weber, in response to reports that the federal government plans to send election monitors to California to oversee several polling sites during the Nov. 4 special election
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This story was originally published October 27, 2025 at 4:55 AM.
