Question: I am going to read some possible match-ups between the leading Democratic and Republican candidates for Governor in this year’s November general election. For each pairing, please tell me which candidate you would vote for if the election for Governor were being held today. (NAMES READ IN RANDOM ORDER ALONG WITH PARTY AND TITLES) If these were the candidates for Governor in the November general election, for whom would you vote if the election were being held today?

Incumbent Governor Schwarzenegger with 43%, State Controller Steve Westly with 43%, Other with 3% and Undecided with 11%.

If the Democratic nominee is State Treasurer Phil Angelides, Schwarzenegger receives 44%, Angelides 40%, Other 3%, and Undecided 13%.

About this Poll
The findings in this report are based on a random sample survey of California likely voters. Interviewing was conducted by telephone in English and Spanish between the period April 3–10, 2006. A total of 1,431 California adults were reached and screened by telephone, including 706 likely voters in the November general election. Findings from the Democratic gubernatorial primary are based on 303 voters likely to participate in the June Democratic primary.

Telephone households were sampled using a random digit dial methodology, which randomly selects operating landline telephone exchanges within all area codes serving California households in proportion to population. Within each exchange, random samples of telephone numbers are created by adding random digits to each selected telephone exchange. This method gives each phone listing an equal chance of being selected and permits access to all landline telephone numbers both listed and unlisted.

According to statistical theory, 95% of the time results from the sample of likely voters in the general election have a sampling error of +/- 3.8 percentage points, while findings from likely voters in the Democratic primary have a sampling error of +/- 5.8 percentage points. There are other possible sources of error in any survey other than sampling variability. Different results could occur because of differences in question wording, sampling, or sequencing or through undetected omissions or errors in interviewing or data processing. Extensive efforts were made to minimize such potential errors.