Poll puts brown ahead of wilson in governor race

SAN FRANCISCO — Californians favor state Treasurer Kathleen Brown as next year’s Democratic nominee for governor and would elect her over Republican incumbent Pete Wilson if the election

were held now, according to a Field Poll released Friday. Brown leads state Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi for their party’s nomination 48% to 30% among Democratic voters, the survey

found. Twenty-two percent had no preference. Brown and Garamendi are regarded as likely Democratic candidates for governor next year, although neither has formally declared. In a race

against Wilson, Brown was favored by 53% of all voters surveyed, and 37% backed Wilson. Garamendi also was favored over Wilson, 51% to 35%. The campaign for the 1994 gubernatorial election

is yet to get under way, but the Field results suggest that Wilson may be vulnerable. Sixty-one percent of registered voters said they were not inclined to reelect Wilson. The survey was

conducted Feb. 1-8 among a statewide cross-section sample of 1,052 California adults, of whom 795 were registered voters. The sample included 324 Democrats and 336 Republicans. The margin of

error is plus or minus 5.2 percentage points for Democratic Party results and 3.7% for general election matchups. MORE TO READ