A whopping 40% of likely California voters are unaware that Democratic incumbent Governor Jerry Brown is up for re-election this year, and merely 20% of voters were able to identify Republican gubernatorial candidate Neel Kashkari as his opponent.
“Isn’t that astonishing?” posited David Metz of the polling firm Fairbank, Maslim, Maullin, Metz and Associates who carried out the statewide survey, which questioned 457 likely voters last week, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. Not startling for everyone, however.
“I believe it,” said Brown’s campaign consultant Sean Clegg. Brown is “not even asking for your vote in the ad,” Clegg said to the Chronicle.
Brown has spent $6 million so far–almost completely on TV ads, and largely to promote his favored ballot measures. Kashkari will reportedly spend about $7 million, with the crux of that spent on several television commercials.
However, the Chronicle notes that even with all that publicity, fewer than 30 percent of fellow Republicans could name Kashkari as Brown’s opponent.
A poll released by the Public Policy Institute of California just over one week ago revealed that Gov. Brown’s sizable lead over Kashkari can be attributed to his massive resonance with Latino voters; Brown is winning 73% of Hispanic votes as opposed to Kashkari’s 19% favorability with them.
However, Kashkari is reportedly leading Brown by one point with white voters.
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