U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein continues to enjoy a large advantage in her bid for a fourth full term, with a new statewide poll showing the Democratic senator widening her double-digit lead over GOP challenger Elizabeth Emken.
Field Poll results released today show the 79-year-old incumbent leading her opponent by 26 percentage points, 57 percent to 31 percent, heading into the final seven weeks of the campaign.
Feinstein is preferred by voters in almost all geographic and demographic categories considered by the poll, with Emken holding a slight edge among voters in California's Central Valley region.
The numbers echo the Democratic senator's 2006 campaign, when pre-election polls showed her leading former GOP legislator Richard Mountjoy by similar margins.
She went on to trounce her challenger, 59 percent to 35 percent.
"It seems like I've seen this movie before," Field Poll director Mark DiCamillo said.
Getting on the radar of California voters continues to be a challenge for Emken, a former executive and lobbyist for a nonprofit organization focused on autism.
More than two-thirds of likely voters surveyed by Field still have no opinion of the candidate, who has so far failed to raise the campaign cash needed to make a mark statewide.
Her low-budget campaign has consisted largely of speaking appearances to GOP groups, radio interviews and aggressive social media outreach since she landed a spot in the runoff with just under 13 percent of the primary vote.
Feinstein, who was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1992, is both well-known and liked by voters.
Her job approval rating has jumped eight percentage points since July, with 53 percent of poll respondents giving her high marks.
"Now that she's back in the arena, the election campaigning arena, the voters kind of return home, especially the Democrats but also the nonpartisans," DiCamillo said. "It's an interesting phenomenon. I really haven't seen it before."
© Copyright The Sacramento Bee. All rights reserved.
• Read more articles by Torey Van Oot
What You Should Know About Comments on Sacbee.com
Sacbee.com is happy to provide a forum for reader interaction, discussion, feedback and reaction to our stories. However, we reserve the right to delete inappropriate comments or ban users who can't play nice. (See our full terms of service here.)
Here are some rules of the road:
• Keep your comments civil. Don't insult one another or the subjects of our articles. If you think a comment violates our guidelines click the "Report Abuse" link to notify the moderators. Responding to the comment will only encourage bad behavior.
• Don't use profanities, vulgarities or hate speech. This is a general interest news site. Sometimes, there are children present. Don't say anything in a way you wouldn't want your own child to hear.
• Do not attack other users; focus your comments on issues, not individuals.
• Stay on topic. Only post comments relevant to the article at hand.
• Do not copy and paste outside material into the comment box.
• Don't repeat the same comment over and over. We heard you the first time.
• Do not use the commenting system for advertising. That's spam and it isn't allowed.
• Don't use all capital letters. That's akin to yelling and not appreciated by the audience.
• Don't flag other users' comments just because you don't agree with their point of view. Please only flag comments that violate these guidelines.
You should also know that The Sacramento Bee does not screen comments before they are posted. You are more likely to see inappropriate comments before our staff does, so we ask that you click the "Report Abuse" link to submit those comments for moderator review. You also may notify us via email at feedback@sacbee.com. Note the headline on which the comment is made and tell us the profile name of the user who made the comment. Remember, comment moderation is subjective. You may find some material objectionable that we won't and vice versa.
If you submit a comment, the user name of your account will appear along with it. Users cannot remove their own comments once they have submitted them.
Order Reprint
About Comments
Reader comments on Sacbee.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Sacramento Bee. If you see an objectionable comment, click the "Report Abuse" link below it. We will delete comments containing inappropriate links, obscenities, hate speech, and personal attacks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. See more about comments here.