Opinion poll co-sponsored by the left Los Angeles Times Endorsing failed presidential candidate Kamala Harris as the front-runner in the 2026 California gubernatorial election.
University of California, Berkeley Institute of Government Poll show Vice President Kamala Harris could benefit from some name recognition in a potentially crowded field and has the support of many Democratic voters in the state. Current Governor Gavin Newsom (Democratic) cannot seek re-election due to term limits.
“Almost every voter in this state has an opinion about her, and that's a huge advantage she brings to early voting.” said Mark DiCamillo, Berkeley IGS polling director, said: “No other candidate is as well known to voters.”
Harris has not announced any plans to run for governor, although she has previously joked that she intended to do so. The poll did not compare Harris to other potential candidates, instead promoting her alone. The poll was conducted before the presidential election. times Did not support the candidate.
Among California voters overall, 33% said they were very likely to support her, and 13% said they were somewhat likely to support her. 36% said they were “not likely to support her at all,” 6% said they were “not very likely to support her,” and 12% were undecided.
“Still, polling suggests that Californians may have less support for Harris in her gubernatorial bid than she did in her bid for president this year.” times reported on the poll, pointing out that Harris won the state by a 59 percent margin in the 2024 presidential election.
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Unsurprisingly, Democrats are more supportive of Harris' gubernatorial candidacy than Republicans. More than half of Democrats (54%) say they are very likely to support her and 18% say they are somewhat likely to support her, while a whopping 84% of Republicans overwhelmingly support her. He is refusing to run as a candidate. There are nearly twice as many registered Democrats as Republicans in the state, according to state data. show.
Voters without a party affiliation are divided on Harris, with slightly more people rejecting her than excluding her. According to the survey, 35% said they were “not likely to support her at all,” 9% said they were “not very likely to support her,” 24% said they fully supported her, and 14% said they “somewhat support” her. Ta. Almost two in ten (18%) voters in this category are undecided.
The poll is “the first to gauge how Californians feel about Harris running for governor,” the newspaper said. times. Harris has been involved in California politics for nearly 20 years, rising from San Francisco district attorney to California attorney general and then to the U.S. Senate.
“Years ago, she opened a campaign account to raise money for her candidacy for governor, but she closed the account in 2018, according to public filings,” the report said.
Aside from the survey questions about Harris, voters were also asked to choose their No. 1 and No. 2 favorites from a long list of potential candidates. DiCamillo noted that poll respondents were not asked whether they would choose Harris or any other candidate, so it is not possible to compare voters' opinions about Harris and other candidates.
The survey found that more than half of registered voters still don't have a preference. Those who do say their choices are not yet in the race.
So far, U.S. Rep. Katie Porter (D-Irvine) has led as the first or second choice of 13% of voters, although she has not announced whether she will run. He is followed by two Republicans who are said to be considering running for office, including Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco (12%) and a potential candidate to run with Newsom in 2022. They include Sen. Brian Dahl (11%), who ran in the race.
The poll was conducted between October 22nd and 29th among 4,838 registered voters in California. The margin of error is ±2 percentage points at a 95 percent confidence level.
