CA Primaries: Fiorina and Whitman Dominate With Double-Digit Leads

What do Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina have in common? They are both extremely wealthy Republican women who were once CEOs of large technology companies. They are both running for statewide office in California—Whitman for Governor, Fiorina for Senator. They are willing to spend huge sums of their own fortunes to win their respective Republican primaries, and they are far ahead of their rivals, according to new polls from SurveyUSA and PPP.

In the race for Senate, Fiorina has a double-digit lead in both polls over Tom Campbell and Chuck DeVore.

SurveyUSA 5/21-23

Fiorina 46%
Campbell 23%
DeVore 14%

PPP 5/21-23

Fiorina 41%
Campbell 21%
DeVore 16%

Fiorina's numbers look strong heading into the June 8 primary. With California the most expensive state in the country for campaigns, she benefits from high name recognition, likely due to big advertising spending.

Both polls also have Meg Whitman with a double-digit lead over her strongest primary challenger, Steve Poizner. In fact, Whitman has a nearly two-to-one lead in the race.

SurveyUSA 5/21-23

Whitman 54%
Poizner 27%

PPP 5/21-23

Whitman 51%
Poizner 26%

The Republican primary is not the only big contest June 8 in California. Voters will decide whether to take a small step toward public financing of elections with Proposition 15. That’s fitting, given the incredible level of spending so far in this election cycle. The voters will also be deciding whether to overhaul the state's election law by adopting a top-two "primary" system, which may make campaigns even more expensive.