CA-Gov: Brown Crushing in New Field Poll

[ccharles000]

Field Poll (pdf) (8/9-12, likely voters, no trendlines):

Jerry Brown (D): 47
Gavin Newson (D): 27
Undecided: 26

Meg Whitman (R): 22
Tom Campbell (R): 20
Steve Poizner (R): 9
Undecided: 49
(MoE: ±4.5%)

Jerry Brown (D): 50
Meg Whitman (R): 29
Undecided: 21

Jerry Brown (D): 48
Tom Campbell (R): 27
Undecided: 25

Jerry Brown (D): 50
Steve Poizner (R): 25
Undecided: 25

Gavin Newsom (D): 40
Meg Whitman (R): 31
Undecided: 29

Gavin Newsom (D): 38
Tom Campbell (R): 33
Undecided: 29

Gavin Newsom (D): 39
Steve Poizner (R): 30
Undecided: 31
(MoE: ±3.2%)

His name is ex-Governor Jerry Brown; his aura smiles and never frowns. Soon he will be Governor. Again.

Brown is posting 20-point leads in both the Democratic primary and the general. The only possible obstacle is Dianne Feinstein, who certainly doesn't seem like she's about to jump into the race, but would win the Democratic primary with 40% (to 27 for Brown and 16 for Newsom) if she got in. The previous Field Poll (from March) polled primaries only; Brown led Newsom 26-16 then (although that included Antonio Villaraigosa, John Garamendi, and some minor players as well). The one bit of good news here for Gavin Newsom is that, unlike the recent Rasmussen and R2K polls, Field finds him comfortably beating his Republican rivals in the general, if he somehow wins the primary, presumably with a lot of help from new BFF Bill Clinton.

On the Republican side, undecideds still rule the day in the primary. (In March, Whitman led Campbell and Poizner, 21-18-7, so people have made little progress toward making up their minds.) One thing I find strange is that the media have designated frontrunner status to Meg Whitman (despite the flames pouring out of her candidacy while it's still on the launch pad) or else frames it as a Whitman/Poizner race; this poll should make it abundantly clear that moderate ex-Rep. Tom Campbell is in position to potentially win the primary (although he doesn't have the money of his opponents, which could hurt him down the stretch). It's also worth noting that Campbell matches up, a few ticks better, against the Democrats than Whitman or Poizner.

http://www.swingstateproject.com/diary/5696/cagov-brown-crushing-in-new-field-poll

[avaistheone1]

1. Good. I both like and respect Jerry Brown.

The state of California was in much better condition when Jerry Brown ran than under the most recent clowns.

[Blue_In_AK]

2. I always liked Jerry Brown.

I hope he does well.

[Honeycombe8]

19. Me, too. nt

[ellie]

3. What kind of governor was Brown?

Was he well-liked? I remember when he was the governor but I don't recall much else, having lived in Ohio most of my life.

[Brother Buzz]

4. He suffered ad hominem attacks from day one.

Moonbeam? Most people have no clue of the origin of that tag and most think it a pejorative name.

[dsc]

8. Mike Royko

who felt awful about it later in life. It was a throw away line in one of his columns that ended up sticking.

[MurrayDelph]

10. I guess it depends on who you ask

Me, I thought he was a lousy governor.

A lot of our infrastructure problems now are because Brown and his appointees didn't believe in them. My pet bugaboo was his director of Caltrans implementing her idea of "If we make driving unpleasant enough, people will be forced to give up their love of the automobile" without giving us any valid alternatives.

In my wife's case, she was working for the State at the time that Prop 13 passed. Her job code had just negotiated their first raise in three years, when Jerry Brown, in a "you want to cry, I'll give you something to cry about" hissy fit, embraced his "fiscal responsibility" by unilaterally rescinding the raise.

[NYC Democrat]

5. its still very early but I think we can pretty much already say unless something happens Jerry Brown

Will be the next governor of the state of California.

[WyLoochka]

6. Gawd, I hope the CA people wake up

Brown was a catastrophe as Gov - he jumped on the Prop 13 bandwagon. He's part of the problem!

You never know where he is going to end up on an issue. He was a frigging "flat taxer" in '92.

[DrToast]

11. Given the choices, I'll take Brown. (nt)

[WyLoochka]

12. Hopefully someone else will surface

Brown would be a disaster.

Read the whole piece at the link below, it's a good refresher on how Brown contributed heavily to creating the mess CA is in today, and highlights his complete lack of any ideas about what to do about it if he were elected again.

http://prospect.org/cs/articles?article=see_jerry_run_again

See Jerry Run. Again.

California is still living with the consequences of Jerry Brown's first governorship. Now the state is poised to elect him again.


Joe Mathews | September 24, 2009

[Raine]

15. The public voted in prop 13

Brown didn't "jump on the bandwagon" once it was voted for Brown had to put it in to effect and get behind the implementation of it.

edit: changed one word

[Hepburn]

7. Good bye and good riddance to Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh-nold.

:puke:

I cannot wait to see Jerry Brown back in the gov's seat!

[a la izquierda]

9. Dead Kennedys have now popped into my head.

[Raine]

13. GOOD ... Jerry Brown

all the way! I'm not thrilled about him but he's the best of the bunch that's running.

[BlooInBloo]

14. Hopefully what Churchill said about Americans generally is true of Californians specifically...

That they can always be counted upon to do the right thing - after they've exhausted every available alternative.

[saltpoint]

16. I think and hope California voters will return Brown to the Governor's office.

I think Brown prevails in the primary and would defeat any of the GOP candidates.

[davidpdx]

17. The westcoast seems to be in "rerun" mode

Oregon has a former governor running as well, John Kitzhaber who held office from until 1993-2002.

[WI_DEM]

18. Good. Glad to see he is beating the Republicans.