Former eBay CEO Meg Whitman (R) has pulled into a tie with state Attorney General Jerry Brown (D) in a hypothetical general election match-up for California governor, according to a new poll by Rasmussen Reports conducted Nov. 17.

Whitman and Brown each pull 41 percent of support among likely voters in the Democratic leaning state, the poll found. Three percent would support some other candidate and 14 percent are unsure. The margin of error was 4.5 percent.

Whitman trailed Brown 35 percent to 44 percent in the last Rasmussen poll.

A plurality of Republican voters in California are up in the air about the 2010 Senate, but those who have an opinion are split evenly between GOP candidates Carly Fiorina and Chuck DeVore, according to a USC/Los Angeles Times Poll conducted Oct. 27 through Nov. 3 by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research.

Forty percent of registered Republicans said they were undecided about whom they want to take on Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer next November. Twenty-seven percent each said they would back former Hewlett-Packard CEO Fiorina, who officially entered the race last week, and Devore, a state assemblyman from Irvine, Calif. who has been campaigning for several months.

Fiorina has a far higher profile in political circles and the media than DeVore given her past leadership of tech titan H-P and a stint as advisor for 2008 Republican presidential nominee John McCain, but that doesn't appear to have trickled down to the average California voter. The pair had some of the lowest name recognition rates among a long list of California politicians and candidates -- 29 percent could identify Fiorina and just 19 percent could identify DeVore.

Former eBay CEO Meg Whitman is outpacing the other GOP candidates for the nod to run for California governor, says a new poll conducted Oct. 26-28.

According to the poll by Capitol Weekly/Probolsky Research Whitman leads former Rep. Tom Campbell 34.3 percent to 12.5 percent, with Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner a distant third at 5.5 percent.

About 7 percent of the 750 respondents said they preferred someone else and 35 percent were undecided.

On the Democratic side, the poll tested only Attorney General Jerry Brown and San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, who has dropped out. Brown was ahead, as he was in other polls, 43 percent to 18 percent.

Approval ratings for California's three political leading ladies have sunk, according to a Field Poll of registered voters conducted Sept. 18 to Oct. 5.

California voters' opinions of the job performance of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who represents California's 8th District, and Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer are at their lowest levels in the past two years.

Pelosi, who has become a poster child for liberal Democrats and the focus of constant GOP attack, has the lowest approval ratings of the three -- 34 percent to 44 percent disapproval. Twenty-two percent had no opinion. The margin of error was plus or minus 3.2 percent.

There’s no clear leader in the California Republican primary for governor and nearly half of registered GOP voters are unsure about whom they support, according to a Field Poll conducted Sept. 18 to Oct 5.

Former Ebay CEO Meg Whitman leads in a three-way match-up with 22 percent of the vote, former five-term Rep. Tom Campbell earns 20 percent and state Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner comes in at 9 percent. Another 49 percent of Republicans said they were undecided. The margin of error was 4.5 percent.

All three remain unknown to the majority of California voters - 68 percent have no opinion of Whitman, 61 percent no opinion of Poizner and 59 percent no opinion of Campbell.

The prospective Democratic candidates are much better known to the electorate - approximately 60 percent of voters had an opinion of Attorney General Jerry Brown or San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom.

California Attorney General Jerry Brown is outpolling his likely opponents for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination and for the 2010 general election, according to a Rasmussen Reports survey taken Sept. 24.

Brown, who served two terms as governor in the 1970s, has a higher favorability rating than San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, who also is seeking the Democratic nomination, 53 percent to 45 percent.

And in a hypothetical general election race, Brown leads former eBay CEO Meg Whitman, a Republican candidate, 44 percent to 35 percent, and two other candidates now seeking the Republican nomination, state Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner 45 percent to 32 percent, and former U.S. Rep. Tom Campbell 44 percent to 34 percent, according to Rasmussen.

California Sen. Barbara Boxer earns less than 50 percent of the vote in hypothetical match-ups against two prospective Republican challenger, according to a Rasmussen Reports poll conducted Sept. 23.

Boxer, who is running for a fourth term in 2010, leads former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina 49 percent to 39 percent and conservative state Assemblyman Chuck DeVore 46 percent to 37 percent among likely California voters. The margin of error is 4.5 percent.

For Boxer, that is an improvement over her showing in a July survey, when she led Fiorina by just 4 percentage points.

A Research 2000/Daily Kos poll of 600 likely voters conducted Aug. 9-12 shows Republican Meg Whitman, the former CEO of eBay, and Democrat Jerry Brown, the current state attorney general and a former governor, leading their respective fields for the open 2010 governor's race in California.

In a hypothetical general election matchup between the two, Brown bested Whitman 42 percent to 36 percent, with 22 percent undecided.

Brown also led San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom in a hypothetical Democratic primary matchup, 29 percent to 20 percent -- but a whopping 51 percent said they were undecided.

On the Republican side, Whitman led former Rep. Tom Campbell and state Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner in the GOP primary: 24 percent for Whitman, 19 percent for Campbell, 9 percent for Poizner and 48 percent undecided.

Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is term-limited in 2011. CQ Politics rates the governor's race Leans Democratic.

Democratic Lt. Gov. John Garamendi leads his closest Democratic competitor by 11 percentage points in the crowded field for California’s 10th District special election, according to an Aug. 10-11 SurveyUSA poll of registered voters.

A total of 14 — five Democrats, six Republicans and three third-party candidates — qualified for the Sept. 1 election and will appear on the ballot to choose a successor to Democrat Ellen O. Tauscher, who resigned her seat to serve as undersecretary of State for arms control and international security.

Garamendi led the SurveyUSA poll with 26 percent, Democratic state Sen. Mark DeSaulnier received 15 percent, Democratic state Assemblywoman Joan Buchanan received 12 percent, Iraq War veteran Anthony Woods, a Democrat, received 5 percent.

Republican businessman David Harmer received 18 percent.

Former corporate executive Carly Fiorina, a Republican, runs a surprisingly close race against three-term Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer in a 2010 California match-up, trailing her by only 45 percent to 41 percent with 7 percent preferring someone else and 7 percent undecided, according to a Rasmussen Reports poll conducted July 22. The margin of error is 4.5 points.

Boxer's favorable-to-unfavorable ratio is 50 percent to 47 percent with 3 percent unsure, and the lesser-known Fiorina is seen unfavorably by 35 percent, favorably by 30 percent but has 35 percent of voters who don't know enough about her to be sure.

While incumbents polling below 50 percent are viewed as vulnerable, Rasmussen says "a Democrat running in a heavily Democratic state like California is often able to overcome weak poll numbers."

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tends to be viewed unfavorably by a plurality of voters in national polls, but back home in California, when measured by job approval, state voters approve of her performance by 48 percent to 35 percent with 17 percent undecided, according to a Field Poll conducted Feb. 20 - March 1.

For Pelosi, those marks contrast with the figures in May 2008 when 39 percent disapproved of the way she did her job compared to 30 percent who approved.

Recent national polls have rated her by the favorability measure. A recent Newsweek/Princeton Research poll found 41 percent viewing her favorably, 35 percent unfavorably and 14 percent undecided. CNN Opinion/Research said 43 percent viewed her unfavorably and 36 percent favorably.

Three term Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer holds comfortable leads in match-ups against potential GOP challengers in 2010, but voters are almost evenly divided when asked if they want to re-elect her, according to a Field Poll conducted Feb. 20 - March 1.

While Field says 44 percent are not inclined to back her again compared to 43 percent who are, it notes that these numbers are better than they were the last two times she ran and that she eventually won by comfortable margins.

She leads Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger 54 percent to 30 percent and former Hewlett Packard chief executive Carly Fiorina by 55 percent to 25 percent.

In a hypothetical Republican primary to choose a candidate to run against Boxer, Schwarzenegger leads Fiorina 31 percent to 24 percent with Assemblyman Chuck DeVore polling 9 percent. If Schwarzenegger doesn't run, Fiorina would lead DeVore 31 percent to 19 percent. But in either case, these match-ups should be take n with a grain of salt because both scenarios have huge undecided numbers.

California Sen. Dianne Feinstein would be the clear favorite in a Democratic primary for governor in 2010 if she chooses to make the run according to a Field poll conducted Feb. 20 - March 1.

Attorney General Jerry Brown and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa tie for second at 16 percent and San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom registers 10 percent. All others are in single digits.

Should Feinstein not run, Brown would be out front by 26 percent followed by Villaraigosa at 22 percent, Newsom at 16 percent and Lt. Gov. John Garamendi at 8 percent.

Today we update Pennsylvania, California, New Hampshire, Wisconsin, Ohio, Nevada and Minnesota in our round-up of general election match-ups between John McCain and Barack Obama. As with the latest national polls, the movement in these polls and the ones we posted yesterday appears to be mostly towards Obama. A Time/CNN/Opinion Research poll said McCain was struggling in states that President Bush won in 2004 such as North Carolina, Ohio, and Indiana.

Visit our Presidential election maps which give you four different ways to look at the race, including one that lets you build your own electoral scenario.

Here's a summary of our race ratings categories. Use this link for background on how we arrive at them

• No Clear Favorite, for races that are deemed to close to call.
• Leans Democratic and Leans Republican, for highly competitive races in which the named party is perceived to have at least a slight edge, but in which an upset is a highly plausible possibility.
• Democrat Favored and Republican Favored, for races in which the named party has a clearer advantage and is likely to win, though an upset cannot be completely ruled out.
• Safe Democratic and Safe Republican, for races in which the named party is viewed as certain to win.