Culture, Politics, States

Here’s Who Really Got San Fran’s Nutjob School Board Recalled

A common media narrative of the San Francisco school board recall paints a picture of masses of angry Asian parents at the polls for the first time, demanding more advanced placement classes for their ambitious children.

But a Standard analysis of the voter turnout in three neighborhoods that are more than half Asian – Sunset, Visitacion Valley and Chinatown – shows that their turnout patterns were more or less in line with the most recent prior election, the California gubernatorial recall.

For these two votes, The Standard compared the difference between each neighborhood’s turnout and the citywide average turnout for that election. For the school board recall, the citywide average turnout was 36%, and for the gubernatorial recall it was 68%. In the Sunset, turnout for both recalls were almost the same as the citywide average, though a tad higher for the school board: 38% and 68%. For Chinatown, turnout for both elections was a bit lower than the citywide average: 34% for the school board recall and 64% for the gubernatorial recall. And for Visitacion Valley, turnout was below average by about the same amount in both elections: 26% for the school board recall and 51% for the gubernatorial recall. (The accompanying chart below shows each neighborhood’s turnout percent change from the citywide average turnout.)

And the neighborhoods that turned out highest for the school board recall? The “heights” neighborhoods: Diamond Heights, Presidio Heights and Bernal Heights, in addition to neighboring Twin Peaks, Noe Valley and Castro / Eureka Valley. Those neighborhoods are wealthy, white, older and have more homeowners. Read more…

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