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The biggest wedge issue between Los Angeles women and men in last week's election wasn't over Obama versus Romney. It was the question of whether to require that male actors wear condoms in adult films produced in Los Angeles County. Exit polling conducted on election day by the Center for the Study of Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount found that the 56 percent approval that Measure B won countywide doesn't tell the whole story. It turns out that in the exit poll questionnaires, 63 percent of women supported Measure B. But 61 percent of men said they opposed imposing the condom requirement, according to a Daily News story. That is two starkly different mindsets.
The exit polls also found a big split by race and ethnic group, per the DN: Whites only supported the measure at a rate of 41 percent, while 56 percent of Asians said yes to mandatory condoms in porn, 62 percent of Latinos agreed and 69 percent of blacks said they voted yes.
The wide range of opinion is also reflected in the geographic spread of the Measure B vote reported by the LA Times Data Desk. The paper's analysis found that Measure B got its highest levels of support in Compton, Inglewood, the Athens area and other sections of the county with the most concentration of black voters. In the city of Los Angeles, South LA's 8th district gave Measure B a 76 percent yes vote. The 9th and 10th districts, the other districts with the most black residents, also lined up in support of condoms. But Measure B's new mandate on the porn industry was rejected in the Westside's 11th district, in the northwest San Fernando Valley's 12th district where local media lore says the porn industry is mainly based, and in separate cities such as Manhattan Beach, Redondo Beach, Malibu and Torrance. Overall, the measure got just 51 percent in the Valley.
Measure B was promoted by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which has a strong association with the gay male community. But in addition to losing among men countywide, the measure also lost 46-54 in the gay-centric city of West Hollywood.
I'll be interested to see data on the age distribution of the Measure B vote. Whether men and women voted on Measure B, or passed on it altogether, at different rates would be interesting to know. This we know already: about 244,000 voters who cast ballots in the presidential race didn't make a choice on Measure B.
* Update: Age and more
The age breakdown is indeed interesting. According to the LMU exit poll, younger voters voted for the condom requirement in higher percentages than older voters. Note that the Loyola poll is only for the city of Los Angeles, while the vote was countywide.
Age:
18-29: 58-42 yes
30-44: 51-49 yes
45-64: 52-48 no
65+: 54-46 yes
Democrats favored the condom rule, Republicans opposed it:
Dems: 58-42 yes
Reps: 58-42 no
The Valley voted against condoms, while the rest of the city voted for condoms.
The Valley: 51-49 no
Not SFV: 54-46 yes
According to the polls, whites were the only race/ethnic category to oppose the condom rule.
One lingering question is the role that slate cards may have played. Also this: LMU says its poll has an overall margin of error of plus or minus 1.89 percent. I assume the poll is much less precise on the sub-category breakdowns.
