California Gov. Gavin Newsom has a strong lead over former Vice President Kamala Harris in their state's 2028 Democratic Party presidential primary.
He also came in well ahead of other potential candidates like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, according to a new poll.
The UC Berkeley Citrin Center for Public Opinion Research-Politico poll, released on Thursday, shows Newsom ahead of Harris by 28% to 14% among potential voters in the California Democratic Party presidential primary.
Meanwhile, Ocasio-Cortez received 12%, and Buttigieg followed with 11%.
Newsom has been raising his profile through attacks on President Donald Trump at international events and travels to early primary states while promoting his new memoir.
"All Democrats want to beat Trump, and Newsom has pushed himself to be the most visible opponent among the potential Democratic candidates,” said Jack Citrin, a University of California, Berkeley political science professor and co-director of the poll. “Harris, in some ways, is old news.”
Meanwhile, 41% of California's registered voters said they would be excited if Harris tried again for the White House, a share similar to that of last summer. Harris has recently said she "might" try for a third presidential bid.
She struggled more in a separate survey of Politico's audience of policy and political influencers in California.
Such people, including political staffers, lobbyists and others would be more familiar with Harris in her former roles as state attorney general and U.S. senator.
In that study, Harris drew support from just 2% of policy and political influencers, as compared to 17% backing Newsom.
Last year, Newsom led Harris among Democrats and left-leaning independents by 25% to 19% in a Citrin-Politico poll.
Citrin said that Newsom's plans for 2028 appear to be obvious, meaning voters are more likely to seriously think of him as a candidate.
"Anyone with an IQ of over 5 knows that Newsom is running for president,” he said.
“Harris is still in this kind of Hamlet-like stage," he added. "Maybe she’s trying to make up her mind. Maybe she doesn’t know.”
Newsom could also have an advantage among California's haul of Delegates, but the state also has numerous Republican delegates.
The poll also showed that Vice President JD Vance holds a solid lead of 43%, coming ahead of Secretary of State Marco Rubio, with 15%
Rubio, though, was favored by Republican-leaning policy and political influencers, leading Vance by 38% to 22%.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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