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The Field Poll late this week released pre-election results of their latest survey about California's most contested races. In the gubernatorial arena, it shows Democrat Jerry Brown leading Republican Meg Whitman by 10 points. There's also a wide lead in the race for a U.S. Senate seat where Democratic incumbent Barbara Boxer is ahead of Republican Carly Fiorina by eight points. For both polls, there's a +/- 3.2 margin of error for the nearly 1,100 likely voters surveyed.
Whitman, the former eBay CEO billionaire who has broken records in non-presidential election spending, has seen the number of voters with a negative opinion of her grow to its highest level at 51%. Like Whitman, Brown's unfavorable rating has also steadily grown throughout the campaign to his highest at 47%.
Pollsters cites support among women, non-partisans, Latinos in L.A. County as one big reason why Brown's numbers have jumped. He leads her 49% to 39%. 7% are undediced and 5% are voting for other candidates.
In the race for U.S. Senate, former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina is trailing at 41% to Boxer's 49%. 6% are undecided and 4% said they are favoring other candidates.
"Voters hold divided and very partisan views toward the two candidates," wrote poll authors. "For Boxer 48% have a favorable opinion and 47% an unfavorable view of her. A similar situation exists for Fiorina, with 42% viewing her favorably and 42% unfavorable."
Most polls for the two Democratic candidates have trended in their favor, but some contend that polls are skewed in assuming the usual turnout of Democrats and Republicans will be different this year, possibly upping the numbers for the latter group.
