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American Morning
Battle for California: Latest Poll
Aired September 09, 2003 - 07:10 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: A new poll indicates that Arnold Schwarzenegger may be losing ground among California voters, but the survey was encouraging for the top two Democrats in the recall race.
Bob Franken is following the race. He's live for us in Los Angeles this morning.
Bob -- good morning.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. And if anybody here falls down, it's because of the spinning that's been going on about this.
The changes, by the way, are very, very small, incremental, but let's look at them. This is the first field poll that has been done in about three weeks. And here is what it says: That those who favor the recall are 55 percent. It takes 50 percent, by the way -- 51 percent to make the recall occur. Those who oppose the recall are at 40 percent.
The Gray Davis people say they are getting some satisfaction out of the fact that it was in the last field poll, 58 and 37 percent.
Cruz Bustamante, who is the primary Democratic alternative if Gray Davis does get recalled, is now leading Arnold Schwarzenegger 30 to 25 percent. It used to be 25 to 22 percent. So, the Bustamante people are saying that while they're not popping the champagne corks yet, they are quite happy about that.
The big problem for Schwarzenegger apparently is the other Republican significance in the race, the conservative Tom McClintock. He has a 13 percent showing, which is up from the 9 percent of the last field poll. And it's fascinating, because if he was out of the race, according to this poll, Schwarzenegger might just be the winner over Bustamante.
But, the person who is expressing the most satisfaction, albeit a small one, is Governor Gray Davis.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. GRAY DAVIS (D), CALIFORNIA: I'm excited about the field poll. It shows we're making great strides. Now, the last poll had us 21 points behind. Now, we're 15 points behind.
(END VIDEO CLIP) FRANKEN: So, that small little bit of progress is something that has to be of satisfaction to a man who was considered down. But there is some feeling that he is not down yet and out.
Of course, the election is about a month away, a little bit less than a month away.
Arnold Schwarzenegger was at a town meeting yesterday. His wife, Maria Shriver was at a Wal-Mart in Sacramento. She was at a voter registration circumstance; however, she ran into some hecklers at that Wal-Mart. And there is no point of when she will be venturing out without her husband again.
So, the campaign continues to get fascinating, but, Soledad, it is doing so in very teeny, tiny steps.
O'BRIEN: Very, very small increments. All right, Bob, thanks for that update for us. Appreciate it.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Aired September 9, 2003 - 07:10 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: A new poll indicates that Arnold Schwarzenegger may be losing ground among California voters, but the survey was encouraging for the top two Democrats in the recall race.
Bob Franken is following the race. He's live for us in Los Angeles this morning.
Bob -- good morning.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. And if anybody here falls down, it's because of the spinning that's been going on about this.
The changes, by the way, are very, very small, incremental, but let's look at them. This is the first field poll that has been done in about three weeks. And here is what it says: That those who favor the recall are 55 percent. It takes 50 percent, by the way -- 51 percent to make the recall occur. Those who oppose the recall are at 40 percent.
The Gray Davis people say they are getting some satisfaction out of the fact that it was in the last field poll, 58 and 37 percent.
Cruz Bustamante, who is the primary Democratic alternative if Gray Davis does get recalled, is now leading Arnold Schwarzenegger 30 to 25 percent. It used to be 25 to 22 percent. So, the Bustamante people are saying that while they're not popping the champagne corks yet, they are quite happy about that.
The big problem for Schwarzenegger apparently is the other Republican significance in the race, the conservative Tom McClintock. He has a 13 percent showing, which is up from the 9 percent of the last field poll. And it's fascinating, because if he was out of the race, according to this poll, Schwarzenegger might just be the winner over Bustamante.
But, the person who is expressing the most satisfaction, albeit a small one, is Governor Gray Davis.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. GRAY DAVIS (D), CALIFORNIA: I'm excited about the field poll. It shows we're making great strides. Now, the last poll had us 21 points behind. Now, we're 15 points behind.
(END VIDEO CLIP) FRANKEN: So, that small little bit of progress is something that has to be of satisfaction to a man who was considered down. But there is some feeling that he is not down yet and out.
Of course, the election is about a month away, a little bit less than a month away.
Arnold Schwarzenegger was at a town meeting yesterday. His wife, Maria Shriver was at a Wal-Mart in Sacramento. She was at a voter registration circumstance; however, she ran into some hecklers at that Wal-Mart. And there is no point of when she will be venturing out without her husband again.
So, the campaign continues to get fascinating, but, Soledad, it is doing so in very teeny, tiny steps.
O'BRIEN: Very, very small increments. All right, Bob, thanks for that update for us. Appreciate it.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
