PPP Poll: Brown leading Whitman by Five in CA

[WI_DEM]

http://publicpolicypolling.blogspot.com/

Brown leads in California

Meg Whitman has spent millions and millions of dollars on her campaign for Governor of California but most voters still don't like her. In large part due to her continuing personal unpopularity she trails Jerry Brown 47-42.

Brown's lead isn't much a function of his own popularity- a plurality of voters in the state view him in a negative light with 42% seeing him favorably and 45% unfavorably. Republicans (86%) are much more strong in their dislike of Brown than Democrats (69%) are in their favor and independents split against him by a 30/55 margin as well.

Whitman, however, is even more unpopular. Only 35% of voters view her in a positive light with 49% seeing her negatively. That's a slight improvement from a 30/50 spread when PPP last polled the race in July but shows Californians still haven't grown particularly found of her.

Whitman is winning independents 45-37 and has her party base pretty much locked up at 84-8. But she's showing very little appeal to Democrats, winning just 12% of their voters and you simply can't win as a Republican in California without showing the ability to get more support across party lines than that.

PPP is finding in Gubernatorial races pretty much everywhere this year that if there's an unpopular outgoing incumbent that person's party is likely to lose the Governor's office. California is just another example of that rule- Arnold Schwarzenegger continues to be the least popular Governor in the country at a 20/69 approval rating and that can't be helping Whitman's prospects for keeping the office in GOP hands.

A lot of Democrats have complained that Brown is not running a particularly active campaign and voters in the state as a whole hold that view as well. Just 35% think Brown is running hard, compared to 74% who say the same for Whitman. But whatever Whitman's doing isn't working well enough and at this point it looks like Brown is in a solid position

[xchrom]

1. she's the fuckin 'lay 'em off and abuse 'em queen' -- this shouldn't even be close. nt

[Warpy]

2. Can you say "blowback?"

Blitz advertising for months on end might not have the desired effect as so many people get thoroughly sick of her and want her out of the public eye instead of in the governor's mansion.

Add to that the general disgust a lot of people feel over her attempt to buy the office and you have a prescription for a loss in November.

[CountAllVotes]

3. well let the campain begin

Jerry Brown has not even begun yet!

GO JERRY!

:D

:kick: & recommend.

[RKP5637]

4. I certainly hope Whitman loses. If she wins it just demonstrates again IMO one can just buy which

political office they want with their personal cash. And that IMO is not a democracy, and does not mean the best can rise to the top. That said, if we had the best in political office today in terms of the best for the country and ALL of the people the political landscape would look far different across the entire spectrum.

[David__77]

5. She's gonna lose.

Californians don't want another Republican as governor. Whitman has made this campaign all about her, and that's not a bad thing.

[K8-EEE]

6. We gotta GET OUT THE VOTE here in CA cuz

DAMN if I'm gonna listen to this woman's horrible whiney voice any more for the next four years!! GO JERRY GO!!

[flamingdem]

7. Thank the goddesses for this ray of hope against the Whitman machine nt