Author: dailycastsocal

With the field of candidates in next year’s election for governor still in flux, the latest Berkeley IGSPoll finds Riverside County Sheriff Republican Chad Bianco currently receiving the most support at13%, while former Congresswoman Democrat Katie Porter places second with 11%. These findings represent a reversal in the poll standings of the two frontrunners when compared to thelast Berkeley IGS Poll completed in August, when Porter was leading Bianco by seven points, 17% to10%. In both polls, a huge four in ten voters reported being undecided. Former Health and Human Services Director Democrat Xavier Becerra and Republican politicalcommentator Steve Hilton are tied for third in the latest poll, with each receiving 8% support, whileformer Los Angeles Mayor Democrat Antonio Villaraigosa places fifth at 5%. None of the othergubernatorial hopefuls listed in the poll received more than 3% support. Preferences for each of the polling leaders are highly partisan. For example, Bianco is currently thechoice of 37% of the state’s GOP voters but receives only 1% from Democrats. Similarly, Hiltonreceives 23% of Republican voter support but also polls just 1% among the Democrats. Conversely,Porter is the first choice of 19% of Democrats and 1% of Republicans, while Becerra receives 13% ofthe support of fellow Democratic voters, and just 2% from the Republicans. Significantly, 73% of theRepublicans surveyed offer a preference in the governor’s race, while only about half of the Democrats(53%) or non-partisans (49%) do so. In recent weeks there was much speculation surrounding the possible entry of U.S. Senator Alex Padillainto the governor’s race, but on Tuesday he announced that he would not become a candidate. Resultsfrom the latest poll that included Padilla as a possible candidate show that had he chosen to run forgovernor, he would have begun the race with 12% support, ahead of Porter and just one point behindBianco. These results come from the latest Berkeley IGS Poll completed online in late October amonga cross-section of 8,141 registered voters statewide. Observed IGS Co-Director Eric Schickler, “the results suggest that the governor’s race remains wideopen; with many Democratic voters still far from decided. Now that Proposition 50 has passed, thecandidates will need to now seize the opportunity to get voters’ attention.” Bianco has overtaken Porter as the polling leader in the governor’s race The latest Berkeley IGS Poll finds 13% of the state’s registered voters now supporting Bianco, withPorter close behind at 11%. Becerra and Hilton are tied for third, with each receiving 8% of first-choicepreferences, while Villaraigosa places fifth at 5%. These results indicate that voter support for Porter has slipped since an earlier August Berkeley IGSPoll completed, which had shown Porter leading Bianco 17% to 10%. Six other prominent political leaders, all Democrats, were included in the poll as gubernatorialpossibilities, but none received more than 3% support. They included former State Controller BettyYee (3%), Los Angeles real estate developer and former mayoral candidate Rick Caruso (3%), stateSuperintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond (1%), and political activist Tom Steyer(1%). Former State Assemblyman Ian Calderon and businessman Stephen Cloobeck were alsoincluded in the poll but they each received less than 1% support. A huge 44% of the state’s registered voters remain undecided. Voters in this survey were also asked whether they had a favorable or unfavorable opinion of each thecandidates and potential candidates, or whether they did not know enough about each to offer anopinion. The results show that the voter impressions of the polling leader, Bianco, among the overall electorateare slightly more negative than positive, with 26% offering an unfavorable assessment and 23%favorable. More voters also view Porter negatively (33%) than positively (26%). This contrasts with severalearlier Berkeley IGS Polls conducted in advance of last year’s U.S. Senate primary, which found votersat that time holding much more positive assessment of her than they do now. Hilton’s image rating among the overall electorate is also underwater, with 33% of voters expressingan unfavorable opinion of him and 19% just favorable. Becerra is the only gubernatorial hopeful still in the race whose overall image rating is more positivethan negative, with 26% of voters offering a favorable opinion and 22% unfavorable. Prior to hisdecision not to become a candidate, Padilla received an even higher image score, with 39% of theelectorate viewing him positively and 26% negatively. One characteristic common to virtually all the prominent political figures measured in the latest poll isthat voter impressions of them are highly partisan and receive more favorable assessments frommembers of their own political party than among voters of the opposing party. by Mark DiCamilloDirector, Berkeley IGS Poll