New Poll Shows Pamela Price Leading Nancy O’Malley in the Race for Alameda County DA

Civil rights attorney Pamela Price is leading District Attorney Nancy O’Malley in a poll released today by the Pamela Price for Alameda County District Attorney campaign.

The poll, conducted by Change Research, shows Pamela Price leading prosecutor Nancy O’Malley 20% to 12% among likely June voters, with 68% of voters undecided. O’Malley is in a shockingly weak position in this race for a nine-year incumbent district attorney.

Price’s ballot designation as a civil rights attorney puts her in the lead in the initial matchup before voters get any information about either candidate.

When asked if they would prefer a district attorney “who is tough on crime and will make sure that criminals get the punishment they deserve” or a district attorney “who will focus on criminal justice reform, end mass incarceration, and hold police officers accountable,” voters preferred the criminal justice reform candidate for district attorney by 59%-41%.

Pamela Price’s biography and track record as an award-winning civil rights attorney moves voters from undecided to supporting Price’s candidacy. Prosecutor Nancy O’Malley’s positive messages about her record as DA did not come close to matching the intensity of Price’s biography and professional record.

Even more concerning for O’Malley, when told that Nancy O’Malley accepted a $10,000 political contribution from cops she was investigating for murdering an unarmed pregnant teenager, and then cleared the cops of any wrongdoing, 72% of voters find this to be a convincing reason to vote against O’Malley.

“Today’s poll shows that Nancy O’Malley’s conservative record of protecting corrupt cops and prosecuting black and brown children as adults is wrong and out of step with Alameda county voters,” said Real Justice PAC co-founder and criminal justice reform advocate, Shaun King. “More importantly, this poll shows that Pamela Price’s experience as an award-winning civil rights attorney with a 30-year record of defending all people no matter their race, gender, religion, income or sexual orientation is exactly the kind of experience Alameda county voters want for their next district attorney.”

The poll was conducted April 3-9, 2018 to a sample of 500 likely June voters in Alameda county by Change Research (changeresearch.com). Change Research was founded in 2017 by Mike Greenfield, the first data scientist at both PayPal and LinkedIn. He joined with top figures from the world of startups, data science, politics, and social change to re-imagine both the techniques and the uses of public opinion polling. The company was incorporated as a Public Benefit Corporation with the vision of democratizing access to public opinion research to create a more humane and scientific society. Since launching in 2017, Change Research has recorded some of the most accurate polling in key races around the country, including the New Jersey and Virginia races in 2017.

In her race for Alameda County District Attorney, Price has secured the endorsements of influential progressive and criminal justice reform organizations and individuals, including the California Nurses Association, Real Justice PAC, Black Lives Matter co-founder Alicia Garza, justice reform advocate Shaun King, Board of Equalization Member Fiona Ma, BART Director Lateefah Simon, Berkeley City Councilmembers Kate Harrison and Cheryl Davila, Fremont City Councilmember Vinnie Bacon, former Berkeley mayor Gus Newport, professor and social activist Angela Davis, long-time labor and progressive advocate Sharon Cornu, Berkeley Progressive Alliance, Black Women Organized for Political Action, and ILWU Local 10.

O’Malley has never faced opposition on the ballot, nor run a campaign to defend her record to voters. She was appointed in 2009 by politicians on the Board of Supervisors and ran unopposed in 2010 and 2014.