Poll: Meg Whitman, Jerry Brown in virtual tie

Chronicle ^ | July 7, 2010 | Joe Garofoli,Drew Joseph

[tlb]

California's race for governor is a dead heat, as Republican Meg Whitman's massive advertising blitz coupled with Democrat Jerry Brown's lo-fi campaign have raised doubts about Brown and cut his lead among Latino voters and other key Democratic constituencies, a Field Poll released today shows.

Brown leads Whitman 44 to 43 percent in the poll, with 13 percent undecided, according to Field's survey of 1,005 likely voters.

But billionaire Whitman's relentless advertising campaign has helped sour voters' views of Brown, with 40 percent holding an unfavorable opinion of him - up from 25 percent in March 2009. Still, 42 percent view him favorably.

Voters feel similarly mixed about Whitman, with 40 percent viewing her favorably. But 42 percent view her unfavorably, up from 27 percent in March 2010, largely because of her bruising GOP primary against Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner and attacks on her from union-backed independent expenditure groups.

Whitman has trimmed Brown's lead among Latino voters to 11 percentage points, down from 24 points in January, Field Poll director Mark DiCamillo said.

"He needs to get at least two-thirds of the Latino vote," said Henry Brady, dean of the Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley. "This is not a poll that bodes well for him."

Whitman began advertising heavily on Spanish-language media last month to coincide with the beginning of the World Cup soccer tournament.

Whitman also holds a slight edge among nonpartisan voters - a key demographic that she needs to win given that 45 percent of California voters are registered as Democrats to 31 percent registered as Republicans.

"This race is now dead even," DiCamillo said. Whitman's multimedia, multi-language advertising campaign, fueled by $91 million from her personal fortune, "has made this a fair fight" he said.

[Kenny Bunk]

Whitman began advertising heavily on Spanish-language media last month to coincide with the beginning of the World Cup soccer tournament.

Lissen, were I still living in CACALand, I would hold my nose and vote for her. But the level of RINO-thought is just preposterous. E.G., Millions on Spanish radio? What's that going to get her? A boost in the legal Latino vote to 11%, up from 10%?

Meanwhile Jerry is going to get 100% of the dead illegal alien vote, and 100% of the live illegal alien vote, all of the "virtual voter" vote, all of the black vote, alive and dead, and precinct shifters and fake absentees included. Whitman is an Affirmative Action Execu-Bimbo who was a stage prop for corporate raiders ... she does as she's told ... it's just that those who are doing the telling apparently did not get through marketing 101. Tell me it is not the idiot savant Karl Rove! Please.

Hey! She could win, OK... but she is ... Rove Fashion ... taking a slam dunk landslide and turning it into a squeaker she could very well lose .... all at incredible expense. That, BTW, is the hallmark of Rove's work.

I'll stay tuned from my corner of RINO land, where we have two Senatrices of the RINO variety.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

Whitman is toast. She has already flip-flopped on immigration and running billboards opposing Prop 187 and AZ law in Spanish. She is a RINO twit who is alienating the conservatives in CA and Brown will win easily without spending a dime.