As California voters head toward Tuesday’s primary elections, pollster John McLaughlin said fresh polling shows highly competitive races and a strong desire for change among voters.
Speaking Saturday on a prominent national news platform, McLaughlin stated that low turnout is creating uncertainty across major contests, including the California governor’s race and the Los Angeles mayoral race.
“We just came out of the field with 400 likely voters in the City of Los Angeles for the mayor’s race,” McLaughlin said.
“In that race, we have Spencer Pratt tied at 30% with Karen Bass at 30%, and Nithya Raman is at 23%. So you’ve got a really tight three-way race,” he added.
McLaughlin noted that mail-in ballots and late voting could still shift the outcome.
“Anybody who has a good weekend could qualify to be in the top two for the general election and the mayor’s race,” he said.
In the governor’s contest, McLaughlin said his survey found a similarly competitive race.
“We have Tom Steyer doing better, where he’s tied with Steve Hilton at 25% each, and you’ve got another 19% for Xavier Becerra,” he stated.
The statewide poll surveyed 800 likely voters and was conducted Tuesday through Thursday, according to McLaughlin.
“This is totally fresh data of likely voters who either have voted already or are going to definitely vote in the election,” McLaughlin said.
According to McLaughlin, voters are expressing dissatisfaction with the direction of both California and Los Angeles.
“Californians want change,” he said.
“The majority of California residents and certainly in the City of Los Angeles, both voters say that the city and the state are on the wrong track.”
However, he noted that voters have not yet settled on who should lead that change.
“They just haven’t decided who the change candidate is,” McLaughlin said. “And it’s a very close election right now.”
