Adam Schiff and Katie Porter neck-and-neck in California senate primary for Feinstein seat: Poll
Jack Birle
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Reps. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Katie Porter (D-CA) are neck-and-neck in the California Senate primary for the race to replace Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), but nearly half of voters are undecided on who they will support in the primary in nine months.
In an Emerson College Polling/Inside California Politics poll, Schiff has 14.5% support, and Porter has 14.2%. Of those surveyed, 47.4% are undecided among 1,056 registered voters in the Golden State.
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Among other candidates, Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) has 6.2%, Republican James Bradley has 4.3%, Republican Eric Early has 2.8%, Democrat Jessica Resendez has 2.5%, and no other candidate has more than 2%.
Among Democratic voters in California, Schiff leads Porter 23.5%-22.4%, and 34.2% remain undecided. Among independent voters, Porter leads Schiff 10.9%-10.1%, and 58.2% remain undecided. Republican voters in the Golden State favor Bradley over Early 13%-7.5%, but 60.5% remain undecided.
Due to California’s primary system, the top two candidates in the March 2024 primary, regardless of party, are the only ones that advance to the general election in November 2024. Since this primary system was introduced in the Golden State after a ballot initiative in 2010, two Senate races have featured two Democrats in the general election, in 2016 and 2018.
Feinstein was first elected in 1992 but opted to retire at the end of her current term.
Feinstein, 89, is the oldest senator in the chamber and received pushback from some Democrats for her lengthy absence earlier this year as she recovered from shingles. Feinstein, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, was pressured to resign during her absence from mid-February until May because it was holding up some of President Joe Biden’s judicial nominations amid the Democrats’ narrow majority in the Senate.
The California Democrat has been back working on Capitol Hill since May, but she still faces scrutiny over her health.
The survey shows that Democrats are split on their feelings about the senior California senator, with 34% disapproving of her, 31.7% approving of her, and 34.4% saying they are neutral or have no opinion. A plurality of independents disapprove of her, 47%, compared to 15.5% who approve of Feinstein, while a majority of Republicans, 73.8%, disapprove of her.
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Among other California politicians, 45% of voters are neutral or have no opinion of Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA), despite the state electing him to a full term last November. Padilla has a 32% approval rating and a 23% disapproval rating among the remaining surveyed.
Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) holds a 45%-39% approval to disapproval rating, while 16% of voters polled said they had no opinion or were neutral.