Allen David Heskin After the Battle is Won, Political Contradictions in Santa Monica, UCLA Lecture and unpublished ms. Fall, 1983. 1983, 1982, 1981, 1980, 1979, 1977
"SMRR's early mobilization of people was extraordinary. In my random survey of 729 renters in Santa Monica in late 1979 and early 1980, an extraordinary 23% of the respondents reported they had been either active in the tenant movement or been otherwise politically active. The Santa Monican's for Renters' Rightss ended its first campaign with nearly five thousand names in its files of those who had helped.
". . .
"The result of this effort was an exceptional sense of efficacy in the Santa Monica renter population. Nearly half of the Santa Monica tenants I interviewed believed that if tenants became active and organized they could be very successful in gaining more rights. Another 40% responded that they would be somewhat successful. The question was no longer could it be done, but whether the tenant population wanted it done and was willing to work for it.
"They were willing to vote in unusually higher percentages. Nationwide, tenants vote only half as often as homeowners. In Santa Monica, with the help of computer-aided voter identification and massive get out the vote campaigns, only a few percentage points separated the two populations. Also, the tenant were willing to vote as SMMR directed. Nearly two thirds of those interviewed said they would be likely to vote for candidates recommended by their tenant organization, with only 10% saying they were not at all likely to follow SMRR's lead.
"This rosy picture, however, was not without its thorns. While the majority of the renter population was moving into the SMRR camp, there were those adamantly against the change, with 16.5% actually against rent control. When asked what were the major problems in the neighborhood, several respondents answered that radical rent control organizers were the number one neighborhood problem.
"Comparing the results of my survey in Santa Monica to a parallel study in Los Angeles County as a whole, the overall impression is one of politicalization and polarization in Santa Monica. The right (conservatives and moderates) moved to the right, and those on the left (liberals and progressives) moved to the left. Politics became more aligned with political identity than is the custom in this country. All this seemed to indicate that SMRR might have topped out and, needed to change people's overall political belief system in order to gain more votes. It also meant that they would have to take good care of the supporters they had."