Mendoza Releases Poll Showing Gains on Garamendi Lead in Calif. Commissioner Race

The campaign of Gary Mendoza, Republican Nominee for California Insurance Commissioner, released a poll July 9 that shows the GOP candidate gaining ground on Democrat John Garamendi. The poll of 600 California voters by Public Opinion Strategies was conducted from June 30 through July 2 and showed Garamendi with only a 7 point lead, garnering 38 percent of the vote to Mendoza’s 31 percent.

This contrasts with a poll taken in March by Public Opinion Strategies which showed Garamendi with 44 percent of the vote to Mendoza’s 29 percent.

The poll also measured voter intensity, and among voters who said they were “definitely” going to vote for one candidate or the other the race was tied at 18 percent each.

Mendoza campaign consultant Kevin Spillane commented, “This poll is just more confirmation that John Garamendi’s support is extremely soft and this is a very competitive race. We still have four months to go until Election Day and John Garamendi’s lead is only at 7 percent, after being more than cut in half. These polling numbers demonstrate just how winnable this campaign is for Gary Mendoza and how vulnerable Garamendi is.

“The Garamendi campaign likes to point out that their candidate has name I.D. from four previous statewide campaigns – what they don’t like to point out is that Garamendi lost three of those four campaigns – and by a wide margin each time,” continued Spillane.

“What’s more, these poll results come before the voters have had a chance to fully compare Gary Mendoza’s successful pro-consumer and pro-jobs record as California Corporations Commissioner with John Garamendi’s record of failure as Insurance Commissioner,” Spillane concluded.

Topics California