Adam Schiff maintains a strong lead over Steve Garvey in latest California statewide poll

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SCHIFF MAINTAINS COMFORTABLE LEAD OVER GARVEY

Via David Lightman...

Adam Schiff has a comfortable lead over Steve Garvey in the first Senate race post-primary statewide poll from the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California.

Schiff, a Democratic congressman from Burbank, is the choice of 61% of likely voters. Garvey, a Republican and former all-star first baseman, had 37%.

They’re vying for the Senate seat now held by Sen. Laphonza Butler, a Democrat appointed to the job last year after Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., died.

The poll found Schiff gets a big boost from independents, who preferred him 58% to 38%.

Party loyalists tended to stay with the nominees, as 92% of Democrats backed Schiff and 88% of Republicans preferred Garvey.

But Democrats outnumber Republicans in California, and the GOP hasn’t won a statewide race since 2006.

Schiff has another advantage. Though he and Garvey raised roughly the same amount of money from mid-February to late March, the last reporting period, Schiff had $4.8 million on hand. Garvey had $1.6 million.

POLLING SHOWS MAJOR ‘ENTHUSIASM GAP’

Elsewhere, the PPIC survey found that President Joe Biden (54%) is maintaining a comfortable lead over former President Donald Trump (31%) in California, though 11% of likely voters say they want someone else (unspecified) to be president. The PPIC said it would include third-party presidential candidates in future surveys.

Slightly more than a third (36%) of California likely voters say that they are satisfied with the current crop of presidential contenders, including 36% of Democrats, 52% of Republicans and 16% of independents.

About four in 10 likely voters say that they are not enthusiastic about voting for president this November. Among Democrats, it’s 39%, among Republicans, its 34%. More than half (57%) of independents hold this view.

“This ‘enthusiasm gap’ has implications for turnout and outcomes in down-ticket races across California, including the competitive House races that will help determine which party controls Congress,” according to the PPIC.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Do what you know is right. Lead and treat others with love, compassion, and integrity. The rest will fall into place.”

- Assemblyman Isaac G. Bryan, D-Los Angeles, via X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

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