Brown leads governor's race, voters not too interested
Source: San Diego News Room/Landon Bright
Californians don’t seem to be too worried about who is going to be the state’s next governor. That’s at least according to a survey released last month by the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) showing how the gubernatorial candidates stack up against each other.
The poll showed the only serious Democratic candidate, Attorney General Jerry Brown, as the early front runner. But more revealing was the number of potential voters that don’t have an opinion yet.
“Voters have more immediate concerns than who is going to be the next governor,” said Mark Baldassare, president and CEO of the PPIC.
Brown, who has yet to formally announce his run for the Democratic nomination, out-polls any of the three Republican candidates vying for their party’s nomination. But Brown does not hold a 50 percent majority on any of them. Among independents, Brown is losing to billionaire former eBay chief executive Meg Whitman 37 percent to 36 percent. Brown’s uphill battle is most clearly seen in figure that shows 39 percent of independent voters have an unfavorable opinion of him, compared to the 34 percent that have a favorable opinion of him.
"That's the challenge in any campaign, is to get your message out to the voters. That will be one of many challenges going forward," said Steven Glazer, a political adviser to Brown, to the AP.
The battle between the Republican candidates may have started months ago, but GOP voters have not seemed to notice. The poll found that 44 percent of GOP voters have yet to develop a preference for Whitman, Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner or former Congressman Tom Campbell.
"Despite all the advertising in this early stage of the campaign, Republican primary voters are more likely to say they are undecided than to favor one of the three GOP candidates. At the same time, the Democrats’ likely candidate falls short of majority support when matched up against the Republican contenders,” said Baldassare.
Among those Republicans who have taken notice, 32 percent favor Whitman, 12 percent support Campbell and 8 percent are for Poizner.
Whitman’s huge early lead can be attributed to her spending spree. She has already contributed $19 million of her own money—mostly used for TV and radio ads. But her deep pockets could soon have some serious competition as Steve Poizner has announced he will contribute $15 million of his own money to his campaign. Many are predicting a mudslinging fight between Whitman and Poizner in the months to come.
“The fact that they’re spending tens of millions of their own money just reminds voters how out of touch the Republican candidates are with regular people worried about jobs, health care and making ends meet,” said Democratic strategist Dan Newman in the San Francisco Chronicle.
Brown, on the other hand, has taken a conservative approach when it comes to money. According to Democratic leaders, Brown is successfully fundraising at a high rate, and has yet to use any of his funds. Some Democrats are growing uneasy at his wait-it-out strategy, but some see his conservative spending as an advantage as Poizner and Whitman might financially exhaust each other as Brown sails through his primary.
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