Two Republicans are leading the field in California’s governor’s race, according to a new poll from Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies released Wednesday, giving the GOP its most credible shot at the governorship in years.
Steve Hilton, a legal immigrant from the United Kingdom who moved to California in 2014 and is running as a Republican, leads all candidates at 17 percent. Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, also a Republican, comes in at 16 percent. Both men are ahead of the top Democratic contenders: Rep. Eric Swalwell and former Rep. Katie Porter, each at 13 percent.
California’s top-two primary system, in which only the top two vote-getters advance to the general election regardless of party, could be decisive. With multiple Democrats splitting the left-leaning vote among candidates including Swalwell, Porter, and others, Hilton and Bianco could both advance to a November general election with no Democrat on the ballot.
The same Berkeley poll found that 42 percent of California voters consider a candidate’s ability to “aggressively fight Trump administration policies” important. Twenty-eight percent said a candidate holding progressive views matters to them. Even so, those concerns have not translated into a polling lead for Democratic candidates.
Mark DeCamillo, the poll’s director, said the results are “historic.”
“This is historic for me, and especially given that none of the candidates have really a positive image rating with voters, also startling. I mean, perhaps one of the reasons why voters are disengaged, they’re just not enthusiastic about any of the candidates,” he said. “They’re kind of sleepwalking to this election.”
