Poll: Feinstein maintains robust lead in California race
Source: Politico
By CARLA MARINUCCI 09/27/2018 12:00 AM EDT Updated 09/27/2018 05:00 AM EDT
SAN FRANCISCO — Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) has seen her advantage in her race against state Sen. Kevin de León chopped in half since July. But she still maintains a commanding, double-digit lead in her bid for a fifth full term, despite being the recent target of bipartisan criticism regarding her handling of sexual assault allegations against Judge Brett Kavanaugh.
That’s according to a new poll released Wednesday night by the Public Policy Institute of California, which tracked the high-profile race between Feinstein, 85, and de León, 50, the progressive Democrat who authored California’s controversial “sanctuary state” bill. The survey showed Feinstein leading de León by 11 points among likely voters — 40 percent to 29 percent — with 8 percent still undecided.
While still robust, that margin over de León, who won the endorsement of the California Democratic Party’s executive board earlier this year, has shrunk markedly since July, when Feinstein led by a whopping 22 points — 46 to 24 percent.
Pollster Mark Baldassare, president and CEO of PPIC, said de León’s jump in the polls has been the result of his increased visibility in California, where he grabbed headlines last week accusing Feinstein of a “failure of leadership” regarding the investigation into Kavanaugh, President Donald Trump’s nominee for the Supreme Court. Saying she should have notified the FBI earlier regarding the letter she received in July from the accuser, Palo Alto professor Christine Blasey Ford, de León has argued that it was just one example of Feinstein’s timidity in “taking the fight to the Republicans” on key issues.
Read more: https://www.politico.com/story/2018/09/27/poll-california-feinstein-senate-845346
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