In a divergence from county voters, 54 percent of Laguna Beach residents cast their ballots on Nov. 6 in favor of re-electing President Barack Obama, according to results by district, compiled by the county Registrar of Voters in the weeks since the election.
The city’s voter preferences differs with the countywide results as a whole, which did not mirror the national results but gave the win to Republican challenger Mitt Romney, who received 51.9 percent of the county’s votes.
Of Laguna’s 19,127 registered voters, 73.8 percent cast ballots and 7,669 went to Obama while 5,998 favored Romney. Those figures reflect the town’s substantial block of 4,300 people or 30 percent of registered voters who are unaffiliated with any party. By party registration, Democrats hold a slim majority in Laguna with 7,047 loyalists and 6,713 declared Republicans, the registrar’s office reports.
Laguna’s presidential vote was very nearly mirrored in the other national race on the ballot over the state’s senator; incumbent Democrat Diane Feinstein received 7,741 votes to Elizabeth Emken’s 5,821.
Conversely, Obama received just 21 percent of votes cast in Emerald Bay, the unincorporated gated enclave within the city’s borders where 751 people cast ballots. Feinstein received 27 percent of votes from bay residents.
Results in Laguna’s neighboring towns more closely reflected the countywide tally with Newport Beach voters casting 31 percent of their votes for Obama and Dana Point 39.5 percent.
Laguna’s minority position is aligned more closely with results in Irvine, which voted 53 percent for Obama, and in Santa Ana, where the incumbent president received 68 percent of votes cast.
So how many voted Libertarian?