Two other Democrat candidates, John Chiang and Delaine Eastin, have a modest 5 percent support among likely voters, while Republican candidates businessman John Cox and legislator Travis Allen each have 9 percent.
More than one in four likely voters told pollsters calling them by cell and landline that they were undecided in the governor’s race.
Of those polled, 49 percent of the likely voters said they want whomever replaces Gov. Jerry Brown to follow different policies than he did, and 44 percent prefer the next governor carries on in the same vein.
Meanwhile, a U.S. Senate race finds incumbent Dianne Feinstein leading challenger Kevin de Leon, president of the California state Senate, 41 percent to 27 percent. No prominent Republicans have yet entered the race.
In an interesting twist, nearly nine in 10 voters can offer an opinion of Feinstein, and are split almost evenly between favorable and negative assessments. Just 21 percent of likely voters have an opinion of de Leon, splitting 10 percent on the positive side and 11 percent negative.