As part of its Race ’08 election coverage, the Sun conducted a poll of registered voters in Sonoma Valley on two candidate races, two local measures, and two statewide propositions. Responses to six yes/no questions were given last week by over 400 voters randomly selected from the total of approximately 20,450; the margin of error for this sample size is 4.8 percent.
According to the poll, First District County Supervisor Valerie Brown leads challenger Will Pier in Sonoma Valley by a margin of 40 percent to 35, with 25 percent still undecided. The district also includes the Bennett and Rincon Valley areas of Santa Rosa, which were not included in this polling.
Of the six questions asked, the responses on two of them were remarkably similar: Presidential preference and reported Prop. 8 (marriage definition) voting. As shown on the accompanying charts, voter opinions on these two questions were in rough proportion to major party affiliation, which in Sonoma Valley has the following distribution:
Democratic 52 percent
Republican 25 percent
none stated 18 percent
Independent 2 percent
Green 2 percent
Other (four) 1 percent
Support locally for Measure Q (SMART train) is at 49 percent, though with 24 percent undecided, it might reach the 66.7 percent needed for passage; to succeed, the measure must be passed in both Marin and Sonoma Counties.
Local Measure P (Sonoma Valley Hospital) has 71 percent support, with 16 percent undecided, and so appears likely to pass.
Statewide Proposition 2 (farm animal treatment) is supported locally, 46 percent to 34 percent, with 20 percent undecided.
