THE TIMES POLL : Voters Say ‘It’s Time a Woman Was Governor’

Her strong advocacy of abortion rights and the death penalty were big helps, but the overriding factor in Dianne Feinstein’s historic victory Tuesday was that a lot of Democrats just decided it was time to elect a woman governor, the Los Angeles Times Poll found.

Women voted for Feinstein by 5 to 3; men backed her more narrowly, by roughly 5 to 4, according to the poll. But among both sexes combined, four in five of her supporters agreed with this statement: “It’s time we had a woman governor.”

Throughout her campaign, the former San Francisco mayor had called upon women to “make history” and elect California’s first woman governor. She is now halfway there, having become the state’s first woman gubernatorial nominee of a major political party.

Times Poll interviews with voters after they left ballot booths all over the state Tuesday illustrated clearly how Feinstein defeated state Atty. Gen. John K. Van de Kamp to become the Democratic gubernatorial nominee, the choice of her party to face Republican U.S. Sen. Pete Wilson in November.

The Times Poll, directed by I.A. Lewis, interviewed 5,815 voters at 150 precincts, representing a cross-section of California. Among those interviewed in this “exit poll” were 3,210 Democrats and 2,238 Republicans, plus 367 independents and members of minor parties. The margin of error was 3 percentage points in either direction.

The interviews with Democrats showed that the most effective issue for Feinstein--besides “it’s time for a woman governor”--was abortion. The death penalty also worked well for her.

About three-fourths of the Democratic voters said “abortion should be legal.” Roughly a similar percentage favored the death penalty. And in each case, these voters supported Feinstein with big numbers--abortion rights advocates by 3 to 2, and death penalty proponents by 5 to 3.

When asked which issues were the most important in deciding whom to support, Feinstein’s voters placed abortion and the death penalty at the top of the list. Women especially felt strongly about abortion. And they apparently agreed with Feinstein’s contention that abortion rights would best be protected by a woman governor.

The top priorities of Van de Kamp’s voters were the death penalty and the environment.

People who considered abortion to be an important issue voted 5 to 2 for Feinstein. And those who regarded the death penalty as important supported her by 3 to 2, even though Van de Kamp is a career-long law enforcement officer. Van de Kamp personally opposes capital punishment, but stressed during the campaign that as a public official, he would carry out the death penalty law.

The effectiveness of Feinstein’s first television commercial last February--a 30-second grabber that already has become a political classic--was illustrated in the interviews.

That dramatic ad opened with news film footage of the mob scene at the 1978 press conference when Feinstein announced the assassination of Mayor George Moscone, whom she succeeded. Then the narration began, “Forged from tragedy, her leadership brought San Francisco together.” Inserted into the script was Feinstein’s personally written description of herself: “tough and caring.” And the ad concluded with the notation that Feinstein had always been “pro-choice” on abortion and was “the only Democrat for governor for the death penalty.”

On Election Day, when Times interviewers asked voters why they supported the candidate they did, the two reasons that worked best for Feinstein against Van de Kamp were her “strong qualities of leadership” and the feeling she “cares about people like me.” She also was viewed as more “dynamic” than Van de Kamp.

By comparison, the reasons that worked best for Van de Kamp against Feinstein were his “experience” and the conclusion that he was “the lesser of two evils.”

Voters also were asked what they liked least about their candidate’s opponent. Feinstein’s voters were especially critical of Van de Kamp for conducting what they viewed as “a negative campaign.” Women particularly felt that he had unnecessarily picked on her.

Van de Kamp’s voters thought Feinstein--who has never held state elective office--didn’t “know enough about state government.” She was also seen as “too liberal,” which is ironic because Van de Kamp--by almost any ideological measurement--was actually the more liberal of the two candidates.

Feinstein’s public image as a liberal apparently results from long-held stereotypes about women and also her being from San Francisco, one of the more liberal cities in the nation.

Liberals and moderates both supported Feinstein by roughly 3 to 2. Conservatives were split about even.

Anglos voted for Feinstein by 5 to 4, but blacks supported her by more than 2 to 1. Latinos split their votes about evenly.

By religion, Feinstein was supported by Jews 5 to 3, by Catholics 5 to 4, and by Protestants 7 to 5.

Blue collar workers favored her by roughly 3 to 2--and white collar workers by the same proportion, an indication of her wide appeal.

She won big among the young and the old alike.

Feinstein appeared to have been the winner last month of two televised debates, which attracted few viewers but prompted a lot of news coverage that voters apparently noticed.

One-third of Feinstein’s supporters said the debates “made me change my vote for governor.” Only one-fourth of Van de Kamp’s voters said that. Looked at another way, about 3 in 10 voters said the debates changed their minds. And these people went for Feinstein by roughly 5 to 3.

Feinstein’s backers seemed a bit more committed than Van de Kamp’s, based on questions to voters about how strongly they supported their candidates.

And Feinstein clearly was the more personally popular of the two. Asked their “impressions” of the candidates, 57% had a favorable impression of Feinstein, but only 43% did of Van de Kamp.

L.A. COUNTY SUPERVISORS--Sarah Flores led 1st District race but faces a runoff. A3

COMMUNITY ISSUES--Malibu’s bid to incorporate as a city is comfortably ahead. A3

INSURANCE RACE CLOSE--State Sen. John Garamendi leads on Democrats’ side. A3

VOTER PREFERENCES The Los Angeles Times Poll interviewed 5,815 voters, 3,210 of whom were registered Democrats, in an exit poll conducted Tuesday. VIEWS ON DEATH PENALTY

FEINSTEIN VAN DE KAMP TOTAL VOTERS VOTERS VOTERS Favor 76% 67% 72% Oppose 24% 33% 28%

VIEWS ON ABORTION

FEINSTEIN VAN DE KAMP TOTAL VOTERS VOTERS VOTERS Legal 82% 74% 78% Not legal 18% 26% 22%

AGREE/DISAGREE: “IT’S TIME WE HAD A WOMAN GOVERNOR”

FEINSTEIN VAN DE KAMP TOTAL VOTERS VOTERS VOTERS Agree 78% 35% 60% Disagree 22% 65% 40%

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times Poll