On May 28, a Golden State Poll commissioned for the Hoover Institution was released for California’s June gubernatorial primary. The results: incumbent Democrat Jerry Brown 36%, Republican Tim Donnelly 12%, Republican Neel Kashkari 5%, other and undecided 47%. The election is June 3. Most notably, the poll showed that independent voters prefer Tim Donnelly to Neel Kashkari by a margin of 3:1, whereas Republican only prefer Donnelly to Kashkari by a margin of 2:1. This finding contradicts everything that supporters of the top-two system have been asserting ever since 2009, when the legislature passed the bills putting Proposition 14 on the June 2010 ballot. Elite supporters of Proposition 14 asserted over and over again that closed and semi-closed primaries produce “extremist” candidates, whereas a top-two primary would boost moderates.
Source: Ballot Access News - California Gubernatorial Poll
