CA-GOV: Second poll shows Becerra's ahead in California governor's race
Xavier Becerra holds a clear lead in the California governor’s race, according to a new poll, maintaining his frontrunner status with less than a week until the state’s top-two primary.
A Berkeley IGS tally put Becerra atop the field with 25 percent of the vote, followed by Republican Steve Hilton at 21 percent and Democrat Tom Steyer at 19 percent. If those results hold and Becerra advances to the general election against Hilton, he will be the prohibitive favorite to succeed Gov. Gavin Newsom.
The poll broadly replicates the standings from a Public Policy Institute of California survey released this week, although it places Steyer closer to Becerra than the earlier tally — suggesting the race may be tightening in the final days as Steyer, a billionaire who has poured about $215 million of his own fortune into the campaign, unleashes a barrage of ads targeting Becerra. Its margin of error was plus-or-minus 2 points.
But the polls together cement the finding that it is Becerra’s race to lose. The former California attorney general and Biden Cabinet secretary languished for months in the race’s lower tier before capitalizing on Eric Swalwell’s April implosion to leap to the front of the pack.
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/05/29/second-poll-xavier-becerra-leading-california-governors-race-00942751
= new reply since forum marked as read
