In California, 'Republican' is becoming a toxic label

KPCC - Southern California Public Radio

By Ina Jaffe | NPR

If the election results were disappointing for Republicans nationally, they were devastating for the GOP in California.

It wasn't just President Obama's 21-point margin of victory. California Democrats gained four seats in Congress and will have two-thirds majorities in both houses of the state Legislature. But the struggles of the California Republican Party began long before last week.

In the past, Republicans have made history in California — there was the Reagan Revolution and Proposition 13, known as the "taxpayers revolt." But just before this election, California Republicans made history of a different sort.

It wasn't the kind of history anyone would brag about, says Dan Schnur, head of the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics at the University of Southern California.

"When one of the two major parties sees its voter registration dip below 30 percent, that ought to be a warning sign that Election Day is not going to go particularly well," Schnur says.

That's right — just 29.4 percent of California voters are now registered Republicans.

Read this story at scpr.org ...