Steve Hilton. (Photo: stevehiltonforgovernor.com)
New Zogby Poll: Steve Hilton Leads Republicans, Nearly All Democrats in CA Governor’s Race
After message testing, the poll retested the 6-candidate horserace, and Hilton took the number one spot ahead of Katie Porter
By Katy Grimes, October 7, 2025 2:55 am
The reports of voters leaving the Democratic Party are numerous, and includes many California voters. There are a lot of concurrent issues happening in California leading to significant election changes in the tarnished Golden State.
A new Zogby Strategies poll reveals Republican Gubernatorial Candidate Steve Hilton is leading the Republican candidates in the 2026 Gubernatorial Election, and gets second place in a competitive race, including over three top Democratic California officials.
Hilton only trails Democrat (former) Rep. Katie Porter in the Zogby Poll. However, after message testing, the poll retested the 6-candidate horserace, and Hilton took the number one spot ahead of Porter, 29 to 23.
The poll identified the top issues driving voters’ decision to vote in the upcoming election for Governor include the cost of living in the state, the status of the California Dream, homelessness and crime, among a list of 14 issues for voters to rank.
Hilton’s campaign is built on these issues and resonates with voters – it is no wonder Steve Hilton pulls ahead in the messaging retest.
Other significant issues changing voters’ minds about California Democrats include Proposition 50 on the November 4th ballot, Governor Gavin Newsom’s attempt to redistrict the state mid-decade, gerrymandering more congressional seats for Democrats. His shameless goal is to leave California Republicans with only 5%-6% Congressional representation. Notably, 40% of California’s voters cast their votes for Donald Trump in the November 2024 Presidential Election.
The fires in Pacific Palisades, Altadena and Malibu are also a big factor leading Democrat voters to rethink who they want leading the state, after 11,000 homes and 18,000 structures burned, their neighborhoods were decimated, and they can’t rebuild thanks to Gov. Newsom signing an executive order to limit development in Pacific Palisades, as well as the stifling bureaucracy in Los Angeles now slow-rolling permits.
California’s voters are looking for a long-awaited return to common sense leadership, away from extremists and bureaucratic leftists. Center-left voters are actually looking at Steve Hilton because of the important and common sense issues he’s running on, while candidates on the left are ignoring the cost of living crisis, crime, and homelessness in California.
According to a report from California Secretary of State’s office, Democrats have only gained 190 new voter registrations in the last 200 days compared to an increase of 48,104 Republican voters, 82,723 have No Party Preference, and 29,350 “Other” voters since February 10, 2025, the Globe reported Monday. As reported by The Globe in August, “between the elections of 2020 and 2024, Democrats lost 2.1 million voters compared to Republicans’ gain of 2.4 million voters.”
The Zogby poll also reveals that up to one-quarter of California voters are considering leaving the state, with half citing the cost of living and a fifth citing the failed management of state officials.
Yet, California Democrats are doubling down on extremist policies at the expense of the issues actually impacting the people, as well as impacting those choosing to leave the state.
What used to work on California voters changed after the Palisades fires. Those who were largely shielded from left-of-center ideology and policies are no more.
On the heels of the August Emerson Poll, this new Zogby poll is not an outlier. The Emerson College Polling survey of California voters found “former Democratic Representative Katie Porter leading the primary for California governor with 18%, followed by Republican political commentator Steve Hilton at 12%, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco at 7%, and former Democratic Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa at 5%.”
“It’s clear from this poll that Californians no longer support ivory tower agendas and extremist policies, and are looking instead for real world solutions that affect things like cost of living, availability of resources and attainability of the ‘American Dream,'” Sofia Karstens, Treasurer, Decentralize America PAC, told the Globe. “Steve Hilton’s priorities and messaging are resonating with Californians across the political spectrum because common sense is non-partisan.”
John Zogby Strategies conducted the interactive poll of 1,000 likely voters in the upcoming June Primary for Governor of California. The overall margin of error is +/- 3.2 percentage points. The survey was conducted September 7 – 9, 2025. Slight weights were applied to political party, race, gender, region, and education.
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Hilton needs to find a way to swing the 10-15% of provisional ballots that decide all close races and inevitably swing magically to democrats.
On the additional plusses side, Hilton is not a born citizen so he will not be running for prez, and can direct 100% of his energies to California.
California is a train wreck. I hope the legislature cooperates with him.
big deal. Hilton will hold a lead until midnight on election night and then the ballot-drop will miraculously push Porter (or whichever candidate leads the Democrat field) over the finish line.
They named it “dominion” for a reason…
Our only hope is that enough votes are cast and enough people monitor the counting that we overwhelm the Democrat cheat-by-mail program….
Agree, CD9. High turnout —- or as you said, votes cast, which is more accurate — is the key.
We have to vote!
Not simply vote; conservatives need to vote by mail, and vote early. In the past, the Left has counted on the fact that liberals tend to vote early and by absentee (and them mail-in) ballots, while conservatives tend to wait until election day and go to a polling place. The running vote count and exit polls told them how many conservative votes to make disappear, and how many phantom voters they would need to add in order to win. Last year, thanks in part to Dan Bongino’s preaching on the matter, millions of conservatives voted by mail and early voting. Confronted with millions of already counted Republican votes that they couldn’t deep six, and no longer being able to assume that the yet to be counted mail-in ballots were solidly Democrat, they had no way to calculate how many fake votes they needed; they simply could not commit enough fraud to win and make it look legitimate. The result is that conservatives retook both houses of Congress, and Donald Trump walked back into the White House. We need to repeat that here in California.
California Republicans need to adopt the Proven Theory “A Voter Turnout that’s Too Big to Rig”
BTW, I am a 3rd Generation Californian who has recently established residency in Texas. I love the beautiful state of California, but I after retiring I could no longer afford the income, property, sales taxes, usurious other taxes disguised “as fees” (being pickpocketed)) by the State of California!
Are you sure after that train wreck Porter interview?
true, ballot harvesting and ballot curing can fix any insurrection.
ask putinsky
Attila the Hun Hilton is not. He’s another liver lipped quivering weathervane politician sure to usher in Gavin’s choice for the follow on destructor of California and America.
Eyeinthesky the delusional bitchy queen suffering from terminal TDS who laughably quivers at the sight of Hair-gel Hitler Newsom the dyslexic dimwit.
Impressive news!!!!
Why my comment was removed?
For the future of California under Hilton look at the current state of the UK which he had a part in making it what it is today.
The link below is 35 minutes of annotated audio from today’s John Phillips Show (KABC 790).
The remaining CA Dem gubernatorial candidates are asked by a local Sacramento TV reporter where they stand on Prop 50, including a very flustered and irritated Katie Porter. Pretty funny (and revealing):
“Katie Porter Threatens to Walk Out of a Local TV Interview [about Prop 50]”
https://omny.fm/shows/the-drive-home-with-jillian-barberie-and-john-ph-1/katie-porter-threatens-to-walk-out-of-a-local-tv-interview?in_playlist=the-morning-drive-with-jillian-barberie-john-phill
The leading Republican, currently Hilton, stays in, and the other Republicans drop out. Their votes will likely go to him, and he’ll be our governor. Not certain I’m waiting that long before leaving the state though.
I am from Minnesota, I feel your pain!
I hope Hilton has a better game-plan than the last time his name came up. I was disappointed to receive emails asking for my dollars for Steve Garvey. I hope he doesn’t divide party support. Republicans need to hammer home how mismanaged the state has become and the need for an honest top-to-bottom accounting of the state’s finances along with the myriad of agencies, commissions and bureaus clogging the arteries of Californian’s lives and livelihoods
Hilton’s name recognition from Fox will only get him so far. Chad Bianco leads in dollars raised and number of donors and is on the ascendancy. Bianco offers substantive leadership, not vague platitudes.
Finally, we have hope that Hilton can win and can begin to repair the devastating damage that Newsom has caused to our once wonderful state. PLEASE VOTE FOR HILTON…he has the brains, street smarts and concern for all Californians that would make him a great leader.