THE TIMES ORANGE COUNTY POLL : Capizzi, Enright Tied but Trail ‘Undecided’ for D.A.

Appointed incumbent Michael R. Capizzi and Chief Deputy Dist. Atty. James G. Enright are locked in a near-dead heat for the lead in the four-man district attorney’s race, according to a Times Orange County poll.

But a major factor in the race could be that nearly two-thirds of the registered voters polled remain undecided about which of the candidates will get their vote.

Unless one of the candidates can capture a large majority of the undecided vote, the June 5 election for district attorney will result in a November runoff between the top two vote-getters. A candidate needs 50% plus one vote to win an office in June.

The Times Orange County Poll shows Capizzi and Enright dead even at 12% among Orange County registered voters. Capizzi holds a slight edge, 16% to Enright’s 13%, among those polled who are considered more likely to vote on June 5.

Assistant Dist. Atty. Edgar A. Freeman, a close ally of Enright, was third in the polling at 8%, but he drops to 7% among likely voters. Deputy Dist. Atty. Thomas Avdeef, Capizzi’s most vocal critic, was last among the candidates, at 4%, dropping to 3% among likely voters.

The telephone survey of 600 registered voters was conducted May 21 through 23 by Mark Baldassare & Associates. The margin of error for a sample of this size is plus or minus 4%.

Although Capizzi and Enright emerge at the top of the pack in the district attorney’s race, the campaign so far is characterized mainly by the unusual number of voters who have no strong opinions. Sixty-four percent of the respondents said they did not know whom they would vote for, and even among those voters considered more likely to vote, 61% said they are undecided in the district’s attorney’s race.

“Capizzi’s lead over Enright among likely voters is really insignificant in view of the high number who haven’t decided,” said pollster Mark Baldassare. “Anyone (of the four) can still win this race.”

Traditionally in Orange County, the undecided vote has gone overwhelmingly to the incumbent in nonpartisan elections. But Baldassare said that may not be true in the district attorney’s race because “Capizzi is not, strictly speaking, the incumbent.”

Capizzi was unanimously appointed by the Board of Supervisors on Jan. 2 to replace his mentor, Cecil Hicks. Hicks had already announced that he would retire at the end of his term in 1990 but then left early to accept a judgeship. Hicks gave his endorsement to Capizzi, his chief assistant, to replace him.

Under the appointment, Capizzi’s term of office runs through the end of 1990. The district attorney elected this year is to take office Jan. 1, 1991.

Avdeef, joined by Enright, tried to block the Capizzi appointment in the courts, claiming that the county supervisors did not have the authority to appoint a new district attorney. But the courts upheld the appointment. Avdeef claims that the appointment was a deliberate setup by Hicks and Capizzi to influence the outcome of the June 5 election, since the incumbent almost always has an edge.

Capizzi is allowed to run as the incumbent in the June 5 election but with an asterisk. Instead of stating on the ballot that he is district attorney, his ballot designation is “appointed Orange County district attorney.” Some of his supporters fear that the distinction between Capizzi and the others may be lost in an alphabet soup of titles on the ballot. Enright runs as chief deputy, Freeman as assistant district attorney and Avdeef as a deputy. The meaning of those positions can be confusing. An assistant, for example, is higher in the office than a deputy, but lower than a chief deputy.

Enright, who has made it clear that his realistic goal is to make it to a runoff with Capizzi, finds himself well-positioned as the campaign enters its final week. But with his sights set on a runoff, Enright’s relationship with the other two Capizzi challengers has been paradoxical. He needs them to gather enough votes to make sure Capizzi comes up with less than the 50% that would win him the election outright in June. But Enright also needs the voters to set him apart from Freeman and Avdeef, to assure that he does make it to a runoff election.

For Avdeef, the poll may bolster his contention that Capizzi’s high spending--he will probably pass the $200,000 mark, far more than all the others combined--has not helped him much with the voters. But the poll also suggests that Avdeef’s hard-hitting campaign has so far gathered very little strength of its own.

Avdeef has said in speeches that morale in the office was low under the Hicks-Capizzi leadership. Yet in an endorsement vote by deputies in the office, Capizzi came in with 85%, and the other three a combined 5%. Avdeef said the vote was predetermined because deputies were afraid to buck the boss.

In a recent Bar Assn. poll, Avdeef was the only candidate among the four to come in with more “unqualified” votes than a combination of “highly qualified” and “qualified” votes. By comparison, each of the other three candidates received the “unqualified” rating from less than 7% of the respondents to the Bar poll. Avdeef points out, however, that only 10% of the lawyers in the county responded to the survey.

For Avdeef and Freeman to win, or make a runoff, results of the Times Orange County Poll suggest that they need to carve out a sizable portion of the undecided vote. But according to pollster Baldassare, any of the four could do it. “Most people don’t even know who these candidates are,” Baldassare said.

One of those polled, Ralph L. Sasser of Anaheim, said he will look into the district attorney’s race between now and June 5 before deciding whom to vote for.

“If someone’s been in office a long time, I generally vote to get him out,” Sasser said. “But if this guy (Capizzi) hasn’t been in there long, I probably wouldn’t hold it against him. But I wouldn’t necessarily vote for him either.”

For Capizzi to win the election outright in June, he has to count on voters knowing he is the current holder of the office, and then rely on tradition weighing in his favor, with voters such as R.F. Bosworth of Anaheim, one of those interviewed in the Times Orange County poll.

“I like someone who keeps a low profile,” Bosworth said. “This fellow (Capizzi) must be doing that because I’ve never heard of him. In a case like this, as long as I don’t hear anything against him, and as long as he’s got his ducks all lined up in a row, why change anything?”

THE TIMES O.C. POLL District Attorney Who would you vote for in the Orange County District Attorney race? James G. Enright: 12% Michael R. Capizzi: 12% Edgar A. Freeman: 8% Thomas Avdeef: 4% Don’t Know: 64% Note: The Times Orange County Poll of 600 registered voters was conducted May 21-23 using a random sample of telephone numbers. The margin of error for a sample of this size is +4% or -4%.

Source: Times Orange County Poll

How the Poll Was Conducted

The Times Orange County Poll was conducted by Mark Baldassare & Associates. The telephone survey of 600 registered voters was conducted over three nights, ending Wednesday, using a random sample of listed and unlisted telephone numbers in Orange County. The margin of error for the entire sample is plus-or-minus 4%. That means it is 95% certain that the results are within 4 percentage points of what they would be if all registered voters in Orange County were interviewed. For the subsample of 328 Republicans, the margin of error is 6 points. And for the 212 Democrats, it is 7 points.