As California looks forward to its search for a new governor in eight years, some registered California voters are giving mixed signals about Kamala Harris’ potential gubernatorial bid for the Golden State seat, while Black voters seem to be, hands down, team Harris.
According to a poll from POLITICO and UC Berkeley’s Citrin Center, which targeted California registered voters and a selection of “policy influencers” in the state, respondents chose from a variety of moods in a question focused on the former United States Vice President’s next potential political seat as California governor: “joyful,” “mostly excited,” “indifferent,” “irritated,” “outraged,” “hopeless” or other.
While respondents who identified as registered voters revealed overall mixed feelings—4% outraged, 22% excited, and 20% irritated, Politico noted that Black voters seemed the most eager for Harris to run, without question. Among Black poll respondents, 35% responded “joyful,” and 38% selected “mostly excited.” While a quarter of state Democrats voted “indifferent,” 33% feel “joyful” about a possible Governor Harris and 41% “mostly excited.” “The registered Democratic voters are very enthusiastic about her,” said UC Berkeley political science professor Jack Citrin. “The ‘joyful’ number goes up, the ‘excited’ number goes up, and the ‘irritated’ and ‘outraged’ numbers go way down.”
The excitement dimmed based on moods from California’s Asian and Latino population, with 18% of Asian American voters choosing “irritated” and 19% of Latinos feeling “hopeless.” Among “policy influencers,” 36% felt “indifferent” about Harris’ hypothetical bid for governor. Mike Murphy, a longtime Los Angeles-based Republican strategist, said the buzz on Harris “was better outside of California than it was in California” before she first ran for president in 2019. “She’s never been that popular in the California political high school.” Poll respondents who identified as policy influencers included lawmakers, state legislature and federal government staffers, and subscribers to California Playbook, California Climate, and Politico Pro.
Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said the poll confirms her leverage in horse race polls reflects “her name ID and the fact that she just spent $1.4 billion on a losing presidential campaign.” He added, “It’s clear that Californians agree we need a proven problem solver, and there’s no appetite for a coronation.”
Although Harris has not revealed her decision to enter the California governor’s race, she gave herself a deadline of late summer to make up her mind. Some contenders have expressed their willingness to fall back if Harris joins the race to succeed Gov. Gavin Newsom.
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