Support for Progressive Reforms: Evidence from California’s 1911 Referenda

Abstract

An analysis of county-level election results in a 1911 California special election in which voters considered multiple state constitutional amendments—women’s suffrage, direct democracy, home rule, worker safety, and business regulation—finds that certain socially active Protestant denominations endorsed most of these reforms. Otherwise, support for these measures showed little group uniformity. Urban counties favored several reforms but opposed women’s suffrage. Support in counties with greater wealth, a larger proportion of immigrants, and several other religious denominations extended to certain reforms but not to others. Although many leaders and chroniclers typically claimed Progressivism to comprise a coherent movement, empirical study challenges this interpretation by showing varied patterns of electoral support for Progressive reforms and a notable divergence in support for women’s suffrage.