A new poll released Wednesday showed 55 percent of voters favored Democratic lieutenant governor Gavin Newsom over the 31 percent who preferred Republican businessman John Cox.
Only 9 percent of respondents remain undecided as the months tick by in the lead up to November's election.
Newsom has seen the highest percentage of likely supporting voters in Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area and Orange and San Diego counties .
Voters in the Inland Empire supported Cox over Newsom but they were both nearly tied among Central Valley respondents.
About 86 percent of Democratic voters in the poll supported Newsom, which is the biggest voting bloc in the state.
In May, the second largest voting bloc in the state became Californians registered with no party preference, surpassing Republicans and trailing right behind Democrats.
Mark Baldassare, president and CEO of PPIC said, “the electorate is so polarized, Cox has equally solid support among Republicans, but there are many more Democrats than Republicans in the electorate these days.”
Spokesman Matt Shupe also said in a statement.
“July polls are a name ID beauty contest,” spokesman Matt Shupe said in a statement. “The fact is John Cox wasn’t supposed to make it into this run-off for Governor. He isn’t part of the political class and wasn’t supposed to beat a former LA Mayor, or the State Treasurer. But we have all seen Gavin Newsom attacking John Cox publicly and that’s because his polls are showing what ours show, that the race is actually much closer, and that Newsom has high negatives.”
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