Field Poll: Nonpartisan Office the Only Competitive Statewide Race in Calif.

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Author: Steve Baker
Created: 31 Oct, 2014
Updated: 15 Oct, 2022
1 min read

Election Day 2014 is less than a week away and the season's last Field Poll for California statewide races shows Democrats leading most of the races.

Incumbent Governor Jerry Brown (D) is currently enjoying a strong lead. His opponent, Neel Kashkari (R), has struggled to build support outside of strong and moderate conservatives. Both candidates have considerable weight amongst their respective political parties, but amongst voters with no party preference (NPP), Governor Brown leads 59 percent to Kashkari's 22 percent -- a difference of 37 percentage points.

Further down the ballot, NPP voters hold the key for the next state superintendent of public instruction. The poll shows the race deadlocked between incumbent Tom Torlakson and challenger Marshall Tuck. Each candidate maintains the support of  28 percent of likely voters. A sample of the state's 4 million (23 percent) NPP voters favored Torlakson slightly over Tuck -- 31 percent to 28 percent, respectively.

Forty-four percent of voters report being undecided thus far, making the superintendent's race one of the biggest question marks going into Tuesday.

Here are the likely voter preferences for California statewide races:

Governor

Superintendent of Public Instruction

Lt. Governor

Attorney General

Secretary of State

Controller

Treasurer

Insurance Commissioner

Photo Credit: American Spirit / shutterstock.com

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