Eye on the Senate: Indecision Prevails in California

October 9, 2009 11:57 AM | | Comments (0)

The Republican primary for California Senate is up in the air with 59 percent of registered Republicans undecided about whom they will vote for next year, according to a Field Poll conducted Sept. 18 to Oct. 6.

Among those voters who do have an opinion, establishment favorite Carly Fiorina, the former Hewlett Packard CEO, had 21 percent support while 20 percent back Chuck DeVore, a conservative assemblyman and official candidate. That represents a drop compared to March for Fiorina, who has opened an exploratory committee, but has yet to formally enter the race. Then, the Field poll had Fiorina at 31 percent and DeVore at 19 percent.

Since then, DeVore has been actively reaching out to the state's GOP base, including a big presence at the California Republican Party convention last month. Fiorina skipped the event to complete chemotherapy treatment for breast cancer. He also reported raising more than $330,000 in the quarter, hardly the $2.4 million incumbent Sen. Barbara Boxer had in the bank mid-year, but a respectable showing for the underdog candidate.

Party officials are still staking their hopes on Fiorina, who is capable of self-funding much of her campaign and has a more moderate profile than DeVore, which could help her chances in the general election. Winning over primary voters is another matter.

But if Fiorina's argument is that she is more electable, she still has some convincing to do. In a head-to-head match-up with Boxer, the businesswoman does not fair much better than DeVore. The Democratic senator leads Fiorina 49 percent to 35 percent, compared to a 50 percent to 33 percent against DeVore.

Neither Republican is well-known in the electorate - 72 percent said they had no opinion of Fiorina while 82 percent had no opinion of DeVore. Just 13 percent, in contrast, did not have an opinion of Boxer. In addition to name recognition, Boxer also has positive favorability ratings - 48 percent to 39 percent unfavorable, putting her in a strong early position in the 2010 race.

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Categories: Field Poll, Senate

Tags: Boxer, DeVore, Fiorina

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