To candidates of the 2011 San Francisco race for mayor, part of campaigning means answering countless public interest groups’ surveys and attending numerous debates so voters can determine their positions in the political spectrum.
But candidates are typically asked such general questions that they can mold their answers to better appeal to whatever group is hosting such questionnaires and events, say University of California politics researchers who are seeking a succinct way to categorize the candidates more consistently by their ideologies.
The San Francisco Public Press is collaborating with newsdesk.org, U.C. Hastings College of the Law and U.C. Davis political science professors on a study to identify the views and priorities each candidate has on current or potential city policies. The Public Press recently distributed an issue-based questionnaire to the mayoral hopefuls that asked for specific responses to policy proposals that have or are likely to go before the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.
Results of the questionnaire will be put to use at noon on Friday as the basis for questioning at a mayoral candidate forum in the Louis B. Mayer Lounge of U.C. Hastings.
Survey answers will also be used in future Public Press stories, as the basis for a nonpartisan newsdesk.org voter guide and as part of an academic study of issue-based voting in municipal elections with ranked-choice voting.
