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POLI SCI 171: California Politics: Initiative Resources

This guide provides resources for the PS171 initiative case study and term paper assignments.

Proposed Policy

  1. CA Voter Guide. California Secretary of State. Online from 1996-present.
    Voter Guides from earlier elections in print at IGS Library. 
  2. Legislative Analyst's Office. Background, proposal, fiscal effects.
  3. California Budget & Policy Center. Analyses of selected ballot propositions.

Major Campaign Contributors and Supporters

Major Campaign Contributors and Supporters

  1. Power Search: Search engine for Cal-Access. Click "PowerSearch: Campaign Finance" button. On next page, click "Advanced Search."  Always check the box to "Exclude contributions between allied committees."
  2. Campaign Financing Analyses: California Secretary of State. Mostly gross totals raised and spent; little or no information on individual contributors (1991-98).
  3. News Sources
    • Access World News (U.S. Newspapers) Full-text access to 600 U.S. newspapers, over 121 from California, including the Sacramento Bee from 1984 onward. (Lexis-Nexis includes the Sacramento Bee only from Jan. 2002 onward.)
    • Nexis Uni (previously LexisNexis Academic) Full-text access to international, national, local newspapers, and wire services, as well as radio and television transcripts. Also includes laws from the U.S., all 50 states, and law reviews. 

Campaign Strategy and Outcome

  1. See News Sources above.
  2. IGS Library Ballot Measure Web Resources. Nonpartisan analyses, links to official voter information, background materials, pro-and-con websites, newspaper articles and editorials, opinion polls, political endorsements, and financial-contribution records.
  3. IGS Library Campaign Ephemera. Collections of newspaper articles and campaign ephemera for selected propositions. Available in PS171 bCourses site. To access, click on Files, then Initiative Case Study Resources.
  4. Online Campaign Literature Archive. UCLA Library. Digitized campaign ephemera and archived campaign websites. Click on Browse the Archive, then Select subject type Measure, click on Select Type, then scroll down in the Browse by Measure window, select the measure, and click Search.
  5. Field Poll. Many available in hardcopy at the IGS Library. Poll reports 1993-2016 archived at Internet Archive. Raw data files are available from UC Data.
  6. PPIC Statewide Surveys. Public Policy Institute of California. Online from 1998. Search the complete database.
  7. OskiCat. Choose the Advanced Keyword Search. Enter the proposition and number in quotes ("proposition 184"), select OR, and in the second box enter keywords that describe the topic ("three strikes").
  8. Statewide Election Results. Provides election results.