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California voters split on measure to keep gig economy drivers independent contractors: Poll

September 24, 2020

Voters in California appear split when it comes to a measure on the Nov. 3 ballot that would allow gig economy, human cloud firms such as Uber Technologies Inc. (NYSE: UBER) and Lyft Inc. (NASDAQ: LYFT) to continue classifying their drivers as independent contractors.

The Berkeley IGS Poll was released Wednesday and found 39% of voters are likely to vote yes on the measure, known as Proposition 22, and 36% will vote no. It found 25% were undecided.

Among Democrats, 42% are voting no and 31% are voting yes. Republicans were more likely to be in favor of Proposition 22, with 53% saying they will vote yes and 29% saying they will vote no.

Voter preferences across regions of the state were mostly divided with neither side achieving a majority in any region. However, opposition to Proposition 22 was greatest in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Without the measure passing, California’s AB 5 law would stand and could require the human cloud firms to no longer classify their drivers as independent contractors. The effort backing the proposition is one of the most expensive in California history with human cloud firms kicking in $181.4 million to promote it.