California Poll Shows Support for Sen. Barbara Boxer Is Slipping

According to a Rasmussen Reports poll released Friday, the Democratic senator’s lead over Republican challenger Carly Fiorina has dwindled to just three percentage points, or within the poll’s margin of error of 4.5 percentage points. In its telephone survey of 500 likely voters in California, Rasmussen found 46% saying they would vote for Boxer while 43% said they supported Fiorina, the former Hewlett-Packard Co. CEO.

The previous Rasmussen poll, conducted Nov. 17, showed Boxer leading Fiorina, who had just announced her candidacy then, 46%-37%. In the latest poll, Boxer also led another Republican challenger, state Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, but by a tightened margin of 46%-40% compared with 46%-36% in November. The most recent poll also showed the senator beating the newest GOP entrant in the race, former U.S. Rep. Tom Campbell, who announced his candidacy on Thursday. She would beat him 46%-42% if the election were held today.

If Boxer’s campaign is feeling any nervousness, her staffers aren’t showing it. “We’ve always said we would have a tough race and that’s what we are preparing for,” said Rose Kapolczynski, a Boxer spokeswoman. “We have three aggressive Republican candidates running in the primary and we are preparing for a tough and expensive general election.”