A new poll of potential voters in the June 2026 primary for California Governor released today showed a big jump for former Attorney General Xavier Becerra among the still-crowded group of candidates. The poll was the first statewide poll conducted since multiple sexual assault accusations tanked the campaign and political career of Eric Swalwell.

Just one month ago, the same Emerson College Polling/Inside California Politics survey ranked Swalwell ahead of all candidates, with 17% support. This week, his supporters scattered, with more going to Becerra than any other candidate.

With Swalwell removed from the list of candidates in the Emerson poll conducted April 14-15, here was the new lineup of support from a sampling of likely voters: Republican Steve Hilton, 17%; Republican Chad Bianco, and Democrat Tom Steyer,14%; Democrats Xavier Becerra and Katie Porter; Democrat Matt Mahan, 5%, with Mahan 23% still undecided.

One month ago, Becerra had been mired at 3% along with Mahan. A major-media interview blitz by the San Jose Mayor this month hasn’t moved his needle much, while Swalwell’s departure more than tripled the polling total of Becerra.

Becerra is a former Assembly member, Congressman, state Attorney General and secretary of Health and Human Services. Mahan is a former San Jose City Council member and in his second mayoral term.

This week’s poll results give Mahan one big opportunity: He achieved the 5% threshold for inclusion in the all-important statewide television debate on April 22.

“In the first Emerson poll since Eric Swalwell’s departure from the race for Governor, Democrats now split their vote between Tom Steyer (20%), Xavier Becerra (19%), and Katie Porter (15%), with Becerra gaining 15 points among Democrats without Swalwell on the ballot,” Spencer Kimball, executive director of Emerson College Polling, said in a press release.

Hilton and Bianco continue to split the Republican vote, 48% supporting Hilton and 40% Bianco, while independents are more fragmented: 16% support Steyer, 15% Hilton, 14% Bianco, and 10% Porter, said Kimball.

Democrats still face the prospect of failing to make the November ballot, with Republicans Steve Hilton and Chad Bianco often polling at the top of many polls. The top two vote getters in the June 2 primary advance to the November ballot

Kimball reported that men split between the Republican candidates; 19% support both Hilton and Bianco respectively, while 18% of male voters polled support Steyer. Women voters are split between Hilton (14%), Becerra (14%), Porter (13%), Steyer (11%), and Bianco (11%).

A plurality of voters under 50 support Steyer at 15%, said Kimball, followed closely by Becerra at 13%, and Katie Porter at 11%. Voters over 50 support Hilton at 24%, followed by Bianco at 14%, Steyer at 13%, Porter at 10%, and Becerra at 8%.

The economy is the top issue for California voters at 41%, followed by housing affordability at 20%, threats to democracy at 10%, crime at 6%, immigration at 6%, and healthcare at 6%.

The Emerson College Polling California survey was conducted April 14-15, 2026. The sample of California likely primary voters has a margin of error of +/- 3%.

The data sets were weighted by gender, education, race, age, party registration, and region based on U.S. Census parameters and voter file data.The survey was sponsored by Inside California Politics /  Nexstar Media Group, which is sponsoring the April 22 debate.

The poll commissioned by Inside California Politics for the April 22 debate did not include former candidate Eric Swalwell, because he no longer qualifies for the debate as an inactive candidate.

Three decades of journalism experience, as a writer and editor with Gannett, Knight-Ridder and Lee newspapers, as a business journal editor and publisher and as a weekly newspaper editor in Scotts Valley and Gilroy; with the Weeklys group since 2017. Recipient of several first-place writing and editing awards, California News Publishers Association.