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New Poll Results in Berman-Sherman Clash
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USC/ Tulchin Research/ M4 Poll Shows Sherman Holds Lead over Berman in 30th Congressional Race: Two Incumbents Likely Headed to November Runoff
A USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences Online Survey has found that Congressman Brad Sherman holds a comfortable lead over fellow incumbent Howard Berman in the 30th Congressional District primary race.
When asked who they would vote for or who they have already voted for in the primary election for Congress, 32 percent of voters selected Sherman as their candidate and 24 percent chose Berman. Coming in a distant third was Republican candidate Mark Reed, who 10 percent of voters said they would select as their representative, followed by Navraj Singh (4.3 percent), Michael Powelson (3.5 percent), Susan Shelley (1.9 percent) and Vince Gilmore (1.5 percent). Twenty-three percent of voters said they were undecided.
“Redistricting reform may have thrown these two candidates into the same district, but the top two primary is going to ensure that they end up with a rematch in November,” said Dan Schnur, director of the USC Dornsife Online Survey and director of the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics at USC. “Sherman may finish first on Tuesday, but Berman is well-positioned to make this a very close race all the way through if he can mobilize his base and reach out to Republican voters.”
“This race is going down to wire — and despite Sherman’s primary advantage, the numbers show they’ll likely be facing off again in November,” said Chris St. Hilaire, president of M4 Strategies.
Overwhelmingly, voters said that the economy and jobs are influential factors in their selection for Congress. When asked to select the top two issues that would influence their choice for representative, 190 votes were tallied for the economy /jobs; 86 for taxes; 85 for healthcare; 60 for education/schools; 57 for experience of candidate; and 54 for the deficit/spending.
Schnur pointed out that both candidates performed best among their current constituents, but that Sherman’s current district represents a larger portion of the new district than Berman’s. He also noted that Sherman supporters were more likely to prioritize taxes, infrastructure and immigration as the most important issues in their decision, while Berman voters ranked healthcare and the candidate’s experience as their top concerns. Sherman’s backers were heavily Latino and Catholic, while Berman ran much stronger among Jewish voters, especially Reform Jews.
“Both candidates run best on their home turf among voters who know them best,” Schnur said. “They are going to spend the next several months fighting over voters who supported neither one of them in the primary and attempting to discourage their opponent’s supporters from turning out.”
“Ironically, the battle between these two Democratic stalwarts may be decided by Republican voters.”
Interactive Online Polling Shows Candidate Ads Influence Voter Choice
The online survey presented voters with the opportunity to view and respond to 30-second video campaign advertisements for Berman and Sherman — one of the advantages of web-based public opinion polling. In real time, respondents rated how persuasive each video was on a scale of 0 to100 by moving a slider up and down in increments of 10 based on whether they saw or heard something they thought was more or less persuasive in each ad.
Overall, voters rated Brad Sherman’s commercial as more persuasive than Berman’s with an average rating of 62. Forty-seven percent of voters gave Sherman’s advertisement between 75-100 points and 19 percent of voters gave it 51-74 points in terms of its persuasiveness.
Howard Berman’s commercial received an average persuasiveness rating of 53. Thirty percent of voters rated his advertisement between 51-74 points and 27 percent rated it between 75-100 points.
In fact, after watching the campaign advertisements voters were asked again who their choice for Congress would be. When compared to their preferences for representative of the 30th Congressional District prior to watching the campaign advertisements, support for Sherman increased by 8 points (shifting from 32 to 40 percent) and support for Berman increased by 6 points (shifting from 24 to 30 percent).
“Based on our analysis of voters reactions to the television ads, Congressman Sherman’s ad tests better than the ad in support of Congressman Berman. This advantage in the ad wars is helping position Sherman for a first place finish in the primary and with a head start for the general election,” said Ben Tulchin, founder and president of Tulchin Research.
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What do you think? Watch the Sherman ad here and Berman’s ad here, then watch the dial tests for the same ads for Sherman and for Berman.
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Press coverage of our new CA-30 poll:
LA Times: “Sherman leads Berman in USC poll of Valley voters”