SACRAMENTO – While California voters may have their problems
with Sen. Barbara Boxer, a new Field Poll released Saturday shows
the two-term Democrat running well ahead of the four leading
Republican candidates looking to replace her.
Former California Secretary of State Bill Jones also has a
substantial lead in the GOP primary race over former U.S. Treasurer
Rosario Marin, former state Assemblyman Howard Kaloogian and former
Los Altos Hills Mayor Toni Casey, the Field Poll found.
SACRAMENTO – While California voters may have their problems with Sen. Barbara Boxer, a new Field Poll released Saturday shows the two-term Democrat running well ahead of the four leading Republican candidates looking to replace her.
Former California Secretary of State Bill Jones also has a substantial lead in the GOP primary race over former U.S. Treasurer Rosario Marin, former state Assemblyman Howard Kaloogian and former Los Altos Hills Mayor Toni Casey, the Field Poll found.
Boxer may be in a comfortable position even with 40 percent of voters saying they are not inclined to re-elect her, largely because her challengers are so unfamiliar.
“Voters don’t know the other candidates,” said Mark DiCamillo, director of the Field Poll. “When you look at the Republicans – even Jones – these candidates are largely unknown.
“So it’s very early in the campaign and hard to make a good comparison,” he said.
The poll was conducted among 929 randomly selected registered voters over the eight-day period ending Jan. 13. It has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.4 percentage points.
The poll found 46 percent of voters said they were inclined to vote for Boxer’s re-election, which is similar to support she received in Field polls taken in September and July. DiCamillo said unlike California’s other U.S. senator, Dianne Feinstein, Boxer has never had broad support.
“The numbers she is getting right now are comparatively good for her,” he said. “She’s never been like Feinstein where a majority of Californians have said they would vote for her. She’s not that kind of a candidate – for her to be in the high 40’s is quite good.”
In a head-to-head contest, the poll found 48 percent of the voters favor Boxer to 35 percent for Jones with 17 percent undecided. Boxer would defeat Marin, 49 percent to 32 percent; and she would take both Casey and Kaloogian by more 20 percent margins.
Still, supporters of Jones say he is well positioned to make a run at the incumbent.
“With a little over six weeks to go before the election, Bill Jones is in excellent position,” said Sean Walsh, a Jones campaign consultant.
Walsh said he interprets the Field Poll to show that Jones is indeed well known – having received the endorsement Friday of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. He’s already been endorsed by former GOP Govs. Pete Wilson and George Deukmejian, four U.S. representatives and 11 state legislators.
Still, 65 percent of the voters contacted in the Field Poll said they had no opinion of Jones – including 64 percent of voters in his own party. Just 24 percent said they had a favorable opinion of him.
Voters are even more uncertain about Marin with 78 percent saying they have no opinion of her, while just 13 percent say they have a position opinion of her.
Eighty-eight percent of those polled said they had no opinion of Casey; while 86 percent said they did not know much about Kaloogian.
The poll found that Jones is well ahead in the primary with 28 percent of the vote to 6 percent for both Marin and Casey, and Kaloogian at 3 percent. Still, the majority of the Republican voters have not made up their minds – 57 percent.
The Republican primary poll included a sample of 289 GOP and nonpartisan voters likely to participate in the March 2 election. It has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 5.9 percentage points.
On the Net: The Field Poll http://field.com/index.html
