Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff leads the race for California’s open U.S. Senate seat.
A poll from the University of California, Berkeley, found that 53% of Californians who were sure to vote in November supported Schiff. Steve Garvey, a Republican who used to play first base for the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres and got 33% of the vote, was 20 points behind him.
The poll found that Schiff got 84% of the support from Democrats registered to vote. Eighty-eight percent of Republicans who were registered said they would like Garvey to fill the open Senate seat, Newsweek reported.
Eighty-eight percent of those who answered said they were “strongly conservative,” and they also supported Garvey. Schiff won over 94% of Californians who said they are “strongly liberal.”
Mark DiCamillo, head of UC Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies Poll, said, “Because Democrats and liberals outnumber Republicans and conservatives in California by wide margins, this gives Schiff a considerable edge in the race.”
According to the poll, one of the most important things that likely voters look for in a candidate this fall is whether they “would be a strong voice in defending abortion rights for women in the Senate.”
Roughly 55% of those who answered said that a candidate’s views on abortion were important to their vote. Schiff, who is 64 years old, has spoken out in favor of abortion rights and has asked the federal government to protect the process. In the 1970s and 1980s, Garvey was a major league baseball star. He has said that he is personally against abortion but would “support the voice of the people of California” on the matter.
Congressman Adam Schiff and baseball legend Steve Garvey are running to represent California in the U.S. Senate. https://t.co/WvTJjsWD2l
— NBC 7 San Diego (@nbcsandiego) October 1, 2024
A poll from UC Berkeley also found that 44% of likely voters in California want a candidate who “supports tougher immigration laws.”
However, only 21% of those who said they would vote for Schiff said that immigration policy is very important to them. On the other hand, 84% of likely voters who backed Garvey said that stricter immigration rules were necessary.
In an interview with the New York Post, Garevy spoke about surprising everyone in the jungle primary in California in March and shared his cautiously hopeful vision of the world.
Garvey expressed his desire to encourage harmony and decorum in the Senate, suggesting that California might be ready to send a political heavyweight to Washington in the fall.
“I’ll go to all 99 senators, I’ll go to their office, I will stick out my hand, I will say, ‘I want to work with you for the good of your state and mind and for this country and the world, and let’s do this together,’” the Republican said of his plans on Capitol Hill.
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