Poll: 64% of voters in Santa Clara County support ranked choice voting

A new EMC Research poll finds that 64% of likely 2024 voters in Santa Clara County support using ranked choice voting (RCV) in countywide and local elections. This represents significant growth in support since 54% of county voters voted for RCV in county elections by approving Measure F in 1998.

Even before hearing any explanation of ranked choice voting, 56% of poll respondents supported using RCV to elect countywide officials like the Board of Supervisors. After hearing a brief explanation of how RCV works, that support increased to 64%. Large majorities of voters in Mountain View (70%), San Jose (63%), and Sunnyvale (70%) also want to use RCV to elect their cities’ officials.

“Voters from across Santa Clara County want ranked choice voting because they know it will give them better representation, less toxic politics, and more choices on the ballot,” said California RCV Institute Executive Director Marcela Miranda-Caballero. “This poll proves that support for ranked choice voting has only grown in Santa Clara County since residents here first voted to adopt it 25 years ago. Ranked choice voting is already making elections better in several cities across California. The Board of Supervisors should listen to the people and bring RCV to Santa Clara County.”

One of the most notable benefits of RCV is increased representation of historically underrepresented communities. Notably, 68% of poll respondents who request a Spanish-language ballot when they vote said they support the use of RCV in countywide elections before hearing an explanation. That support jumps to 73% after respondents hear the explanation.

Ranked choice voting (RCV) is a simple reform that can lead to significant benefits for our cities, state, and country. RCV lets you rank candidates 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and so on instead of being forced to choose just one candidate. If your first choice can’t win, your vote automatically counts for your second choice. It's a commonsense upgrade from the broken single-choice voting approach that favors entrenched interests and underlies so much political dysfunction.

The results of the poll, which was commissioned by the California RCV Institute, can be found at www.calrcv.org/santa-clara-county. The poll was conducted online and by phone from Dec 7-17, 2023 and included 400 likely voters countywide. The overall margin of error is 4.9 percentage points.