New polls show Becerra and Steyer now tied for Dem lead

Support for Xavier Becerra’s campaign for governor is continuing to grow, according to new polls that show the former U.S. Health and Human Services tied for the lead among Democratic candidates.

Just last week, Becerra trailed behind billionaire activist Tom Steyer who was maintaining the Democratic lead. New polls released Monday show that the two candidates are now tied, pointing to them as the Democratic frontrunners.

“We expect that growth to continue as more information [and] more polling comes to light,” Michael Bustamante, Becerra’s senior campaign advisor, told CALÓ News. “Voters – the Latino community, African Americans, men and women, young and old, are beginning to look at Xavier Becerra and realize that he is the most experienced, the best qualified candidate that they can trust.”

Gudelunas Strategies conducted a survey from April 16-18 of 800 likely voters. Republican Steve Hilton led the poll with 20% of the vote, although he is down two points since the last Gudelunas Strategies poll released earlier this month.

Becerra and Steyer are tied with 15% of the vote. Becerra saw an 11-point increase since the last poll while Steyer saw a three-point increase.

Looking at non-Republican voters, Becerra led the pack with 21% of the vote, followed by Steyer and former U.S. Rep Katie Porter at 19%.

Becerra’s growing support was further recognized in the poll’s favorability question, with the former state attorney general receiving a 51% net favorability among Democratic candidates. Porter and Steyer’s favorability was 44% and 41%, respectively.

Also released Monday was the California Democratic Party’s second voter index. The poll was conducted by EVITARUS, a Black and Latina-led public opinion research firm. 20% of voters surveyed were still undecided.

With 16%, Hilton also led this poll, followed by Republican Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco at 14%.

Becerra and Steyer once again tied with 13% of the total vote, followed by Porter at 10% and San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan at 5%.

Similar to the Gudelunas poll, the EVITARUS poll shows Becerra has jumped by 9 percentage points since early April.

The next gubernatorial debate is scheduled for April 22 and will be hosted by KTLA5 and Nexstar Media Group. Hilton, Becerra, Steyer, Bianco, Porter and Mahan have all qualified for the debate based on their recent polling results.