A new poll from CNN/Time out this evening confirms what past polls in California have been showing for a while now: the gubernatorial race is essentially a dead heat. Meg Whitman has a slight lead in the poll, just as she has in some other recent polling pitting her against CA Attorney General Jerry Brown (D). It’s not much of a lead, mind you — Whitman leads by just 48-46 in the new poll — but it’s enough to suggest her summertime ad blitz aimed at building up her moderate bona fides with California voters has been fairly successful.
Brown is now on the air taking Whitman on, and promising to expose her as too conservative and too inexperienced for California voters weary of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s (R) reign. The TPM Poll Average shows Brown begins to make that case running basically neck-and-neck with Whitman. She leads the average 46.0-44.2.
The CNN/Time poll of 866 registered voters was conducted Sept. 2-7. The margin of error is 3.5%.
Evan McMorris-Santoro
Evan McMorris-Santoro has covered politics for TPM since 2009. Before that, he was a reporter at National Journal’s Hotline covering election 2008. He started his career covering local politics at newspapers in TN and his native NC.
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