Kamala Harris Manages To Bore California Voters Into GOP Curiosity, New Poll Shows

Most California voters say they’d pick someone other than former Vice President Kamala Harris in a hypothetical 2026 gubernatorial race, according to a new poll released Wednesday.

The former vice president draws 41% of support in a hypothetical 2026 gubernatorial race against a generic Republican’s 29%, according to a poll from the University of California, Irvine. The survey underscores the challenges facing Harris as she weighs an end-of-summer decision on entering the race.

“It’s interesting to see a candidate who isn’t announced that much farther up on her rivals,” poll director Jon Gould told the 🏢Daily Caller News Foundation. “But what’s curious is why she is preferred. She has a +11 net favorability rating, but she is also much better known than any other candidate … So, if she were to jump in, she would start as the prohibitive favorite, but there is plenty of room for others to successfully compete with her, especially when she has not broken 50% support and 40% of the electorate is undecided.”

Harris’ press team did not respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.

But the crosstabs in the poll paint a more complicated picture. Among independents — the bloc that often decides California’s top-two primary challengers — 52% are still “not sure,” while only 13% pick Harris outright. In a state where Democrats enjoy a nearly two-to-one registration edge, these numbers represent a thick layer of apathy for the former vice president.