[randita]

"A more moderate, perhaps more experienced candidate would be in a much stronger position to take advantage of Davis' weakness," said Bruce Cain, a political science professor at UC Berkeley.

Someone like..errr..uhh..umm..Dan Lundgren.

[randita]

This poll appears to be just of "voters". A poll of "likely voters" might reveal a closer race.

[TheBattman]

If this poll is even close to accurate, it simply reinforces my opinion of the "typical" People's Republic of Kalifornia "Citizen" (subject).

I really don't mean to offend any Freepers who live in California, but darn - how can you stand it. Pretty scenerey and reasonable temperatures and weather will only get you so far. Obviously, the conservatives who are left are so outnumbered (or lazy) that they are not getting anything fixed there. Instead they just export more of their garbage liberals to surrounding states to spread their infection (just ask folks in Colorado, Idah, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, etc.) Heck, we even feel the cancer all the way over here in Arkansas - there are pockets of liberals that are not the "typical" liberal for around here -

The typical liberal here in Arkansas is the one that just wants a free handout (especially in the Delta area). The liberals that are infected with the Kalifornia strain of liberalism are very politically and socially leftist.

< / rant off>

[goldstategop]

No. Dick Riordan remember? He couldn't even carry L.A County! And the liberal Field poll doesn't really have good news for GrayDown --- he has only a 7 point lead over Bill Simon despite his high negatives. But what the Field poll and the liberal media is NOT telling readers is that when you factor in the margin of error, GrayDown's lead is statistically insignificant. Which means in reality the election is still very much up for grabs. What irritates the San Francisco Chronicle and the rest of the mainstream media is Simon is still a viable contender and a conservative isn't supposed to have shot in liberal California! Finally the Field Poll uses a SMALL sample of likely voters and these are probably weighed heavily in GrayDown's favor, unlike virtually every other poll that shows Simon ahead. We'll see which side is right come November.

[AppyPappy]

Living proof that negative campaigning works. The media has demonized Simon right out of the race.

[jetson]

ALLWAYS REMEMBER THAT " LIBERALISM IS A MENTAL DISORDER" AND ANYTHING YOU HEAR THAT IS IN THEIR FAVOR IS PROBRABLY A LIE OR A FIGMENT OF THEIR IMAGINATION.

[ElkGroveDan]

This is the Field poll. While political pollsters call from lists of actual voters and determine voting likelihood from past voter history..The Field poll call everyone who picks up the phone and asks them if they are registered to vote and if they voted in the last election. One study shows that almost 20% lie in the affirmative on both counts. Field also oversamples the San Francisco Bay area. That is why Field has predicted Governor Bradley twice, Governor Feinstein, Governor Kathleen Brown and the defeat of Proposition 13 to name a few.

The fact is that according to the serious poll done by Public Opinion Surveys, Bill Simon is ahead by 8 points. This is confirmed by several legislative Democrat polls that have leaked out of the Capitol.

Don't ever believe what you read in the Field poll.

[ElkGroveDan]

Here is a historical example of just how bad the Field poll is. According tot his story all of the private polls showed Wilson leading Kathleen Brown by as much as 9 points, but good old Mervin Field had Jerry Brown's little sister up by 5. As we all know Wilson thumped her that November 51%-44%

This poll is nearly identical to they way things are now. All the private polls have Simon a head of Davis by 4-9 points, but Field is coming in with Davis ahead by 7. Note the date too. This Field Poll was also taken in July.

 

The San Francisco Examiner

July 20, 1994, Wednesday; Fourth Edition

SECTION: NEWS; Pg. A-6

LENGTH: 600 words

HEADLINE: Brown maintains lead over Wilson ;
But new poll shows support for Demo gubernatorial candidate has slipped to 44%

SOURCE: OF THE EXAMINER STAFF

BYLINE: TUPPER HULL

DATELINE: SACRAMENTO

BODY:
Although her lead over Gov. Wilson has slipped, Kathleen Brown and her campaign reacted happily to news she is leading the Republican incumbent by a 5-point margin in a new statewide poll.

"We're landing punches," said Brown, the Democratic Party's nominee for governor, as she completed a two-day bus tour of the Bay Area on Tuesday. Brown and her aides had expected the poll to show her trailing Wilson for the first time since she announced her candidacy last year. "I like it when I'm ahead," she told reporters.

The Field Poll, conducted last week, shows her with the support of 44 percent of a sampling of the state's electorate, compared with Wilson's 39 percent.

It was conducted while Brown was airing four separate television ads attacking Wilson's record.

Wilson spokesman Dan Schnur countered that the poll was good news for the governor. He noted that Field polls had found Brown ahead of Wilson by 8 percentage points just two months ago and Brown leading by 12 points in April.

"In the last two weeks, Kathleen Brown has thrown the political sink at us, and it's barely made a scratch," said Schnur.

"They went out and tried to buy themselves a poll, and they didn't even do that right," he said.

The latest Field survey also found a growing number of Californians unhappy with the job Wilson is doing as governor. Of the more than 600 people surveyed, 41 percent said they believed Wilson was doing a poor or very job, compared with 35 percent who gave him the same grade in May.

Another 32 percent said Wilson was doing a fair job (33 percent ranked his job performance as fair in May), and 25 percent said he was doing a good or excellent job (28 percent gave him a good or excellent rating in May).

Recent private polls, including polls conducted by Brown's own campaign, have found the first-term state treasurer trailing Wilson by up to 9 points. It was largely because of those polls that Brown's aides predicted the prestigious Field Poll also would show her behind.

But John Whitehurst, Brown's chief spokesman, said he believed Brown had moved ahead in the hard-fought race largely because of the negative television ads she was running throughout the state.

"It shows how weak he is," Whitehurst said. "One week of television ads, and his numbers collapsed."

Tuesday's poll followed by one day appearances by both gubernatorial candidates at the California Broadcasters' Association convention in Monterey, during which they exchanged strongly worded attacks.

The appearances, the first time the two candidates have appeared together since they won their parties' primary elections, set the tone for what many political observers believe will be a close and bitter race up to the Nov. 8 vote.

GRAPHIC: PHOTO (AP / RICH PEDRONCELLI)
Caption 1, Kathleen Brown admires Veronica Garcia's finger painting at George Moscone elementary in The City on Tuesday.

LOAD-DATE: July 22, 1994

[heleny]

As pointed out by dalereed in a duplicate post of this article, the San Diego Union Tribune noted that

The Field Poll was conducted by telephone in either English or Spanish

but the SF Chronicle omitted those details.