Poll: Voters favor Brown as his popularity climbs

A new Field Poll finds Gov. Jerry Brown with a big lead as he seeks re-election to an unprecedented fourth term.

The survey released Wednesday finds 57 percent of likely voters would choose the Democratic governor, far outpacing any of the three top Republican challengers.

It finds that 17 percent of likely voters support Assemblyman Tim Donnelly, 3 percent favor Laguna Hills Mayor Andrew Blount, and 2 percent support former U.S. Treasury official Neel Kashkari.

The top two finishers in the June primary, regardless of party, will move on to the November general election.

The survey also finds that 59 percent of registered voters approve of the job Brown is doing, his highest rating since he began his latest tenure in January 2011.

Field interviewed 1,000 registered voters, including 504 likely voters, by telephone from March 18 to April 5. The poll has a sampling error rate of plus or minus 3.2 percentage points for registered voters and plus or minus 4.5 percentage points for likely voters.