Void of polling, Elk Grove voters can look to one early indicator in early rounds of Singh-Allen v. Ly




A staple of political campaigns that have sufficient funding, even on a local level, is polling. The polls can help officeseekers identify voters' sentiments, gauge messaging, and the popularity - or unpopularity - of a given candidate.

For those candidates running for office in Elk Grove who have the campaign cash, polling has become a regular tool. For voters, results are rarely revealed unless leaked in hopes of helping create a sense of inevitability. 

This scenario happened in a 2018 Elk Grove race that polling supposedly showed the challenger defeating the incumbent in a closely watched race. In the end, the numbers that mattered were the vote tally and not polling data, which in this case were grossly inaccurate. 

In 2020, even though there could be up to five candidates facing Elk Grove Mayor Steve Ly, most of the attention will be focused on the challenge presented by Elk Grove Unified School District Trustee Bobbie Singh Allen who announced her surprise candidacy yesterday. While the other challengers should never be counted out given the volatile political climate Elk Grove finds itself in going into the November election, they will more than likely play a spoiler role in Ly Singh-Allen showdown.

There is one item people can look to in real-time that could provide a sliver of voter sentiment today. That item would be the competing online calls for Ly and Singh-Allen to resign from elected office.

So how are the Change.org advisory polls that were posted within hours of each other, charting? So, far, it seems as pro-Singh-Allen forces are leading Ly supporters. 

As of this posting time, the pro-Singh-Allen camp leads Ly supporters by an almost two-to-one margin. There have been 797 signatures obtained telling Singh-Allen to resign while 1,678 people have signed the petition for Ly's resignation. 

It is worth noting that the petition against Singh-Allen was posted ahead of the petitions calling for Ly's resignation. There are a few other things worth noting. 

On the petition calling for Singh-Allen to resign, she posted a response to the claims leveled against her. The Ly's resignation petition, as of this posting, has no posted response from the mayor about the charges he has absorbed.  

The comments posted of each of the petitions also clearly outline the positions and possible narratives each side in the battle could deploy during the campaign. Those supporting Ly will argue that Singh-Allen has made insensitive comments directed at the Hmong community while Singh-Allen supporters will continue to portray Ly as a bully to women.     

If viewing the petitions as proxy polls, it is worth remembering they are non-scientific. Nonetheless, it could be an early indicator of what some call the enthusiasm factor of each campaign over their issues and how more importantly, how voters respond.     

Copyright by Elk Grove News © 2020. All right reserved.



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1 comment

D.J. Blutarsky said...

Confucious say, "Not much difference between caste system and clans".

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