That\u2019s a wider margin of support than was found weeks earlier in a poll<\/a> conducted for The San Diego Union-Tribune earlier in October, when 51% said they supported the measure.<\/p>\n The campaign has been waged on a far tighter timetable than most in California, with the election set only in late August. But in the little over two months since, hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent for and against the measure \u2014 the vast majority of it in support.<\/p>\n Supporters blanketed television in political ads, tapping former President Barack Obama and other party stars to urge Californians to vote yes in spots that aired<\/a> during the World Series.<\/p>\n Opponents enlisted high-profile Republicans like former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a longtime critic of both gerrymandering and of President Trump, and called the effort a scheme by Democrats to undo voters\u2019 approval of the independent commission.<\/p>\n But the person who has drawn the most attention in the campaign over Proposition 50 is Gov. Gavin Newsom, the effort\u2019s most vocal backer \u2014 attention that could help<\/a> him in a 2028 presidential run he\u2019s acknowledged<\/a> considering.<\/p>\n Newsom was in San Diego on Saturday to make his pitch at a get-out-the-vote event with union workers in Rolando. And on Monday night, labor leaders and former congresswoman Katie Porter, a candidate for governor, held a rally on UC San Diego\u2019s campus to galvanize the student vote.<\/p>\n \u201cEveryone we\u2019ve talked to has heard of Prop. 50, and it\u2019s because of the work we\u2019ve been doing on the ground,\u201d said Sarah Van Dijk, a graduate student who\u2019s led a canvassing effort on campus in support of the measure.<\/p>\n \u201cIf the margin ends up being small, I feel like our work here made a difference,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n As the special election wraps up, San Diego Democratic leaders say they\u2019re satisfied with their efforts.<\/p>\n Will Rodriguez-Kennedy, the chair of the local party, said hundreds of volunteers had knocked on doors and engaged with voters in North and East County. \u201cWe\u2019re showing up in places you would not expect Democrats to show up,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n On the Republican side, local Assemblymember Carl DeMaio has mobilized his conservative advocacy group Reform California in the campaign against Prop. 50.<\/p>\n About 17,000 volunteers had already been collecting signatures for a voter-ID ballot measure he\u2019s pushing that would require voters to provide identification and prove their citizenship at the polls. It was easy to repackage that pitch with opposition to Proposition 50, DeMaio said.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you want fair elections, you need to have fair districts,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n![\"Voters](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/SUT-L-prop50-funding-006.jpg\")
Voters drop off their Proposition 50 ballots at the Registrar of Voters on Oct. 27, 2025, in San Diego. (Photo by K.C. Alfred \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n