Californians are not overly enthusiastic but still supportive of former Vice President Kamala Harris running for governor of the Golden State, according to a new poll released Tuesday from U.C. Berkley's Citrin Center and Politico.
The survey asked both insiders of California politics as well registered voters in the state to gauge the enthusiasm for Harris, who has not officially announced her next move since losing her bid for the White House to President Donald Trump. The poll asked respondents to choose which word best describes the emotion a Harris gubernatorial run elicits, with the options being "joyful," "mostly excited," "indifferent," "irritated," "outraged," and "hopeless."
The enthusiasm for Harris as governor was much higher among the electorate than of the politically connected. Thirty-six percent of insiders said they were "indifferent" to a Harris run, while 33% of registered Democrats said they were "joyful," with another 41% saying there were "mostly excited."
Noting that political insiders are not "given to euphoria," longtime political science professor at UC Berkeley Jack Citrin said the enthusiasm among the Democrat base is what matters. "The registered Democratic voters are very enthusiastic about her," Citrin said. "The 'joyful' number goes up, the 'excited' number goes up, and the 'irritated' and 'outraged' numbers go way down."
Harris had a noticeable decline in certain ethnic voting blocks that mirrored the 2024 presidential election. While 35% of Black voters felt "joyful" over a Harris candidacy, 18% of Asians said they felt irritated and 19% of Latinos chose the word "hopeless" over her running for office.
"It's almost a surprising lack of enthusiasm" from Latino voters, Citrin noted. "But we know from the general election that Latino voters shifted as compared to 2020 or 2016 towards Trump."
According to the outlet, influencers were determined by "a list of people including subscribers to California Playbook, California Climate, and POLITICO Pro in California who work in the state. Respondents in that sample included lawmakers and staffers in the state Legislature and the federal government." The poll was conducted between April 1 and April 4 among 1,025 registered California voters and 718 influencers with a margin of error of +/- 5 percentage points.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.