Cranston Lead Over Zschau Is Growing, Poll Indicates

Democratic Sen. Alan Cranston’s campaign strategy appears to be paying off. A new California Poll shows the senator leading his Republican challenger, Rep. Ed Zschau, by 51% to 38%, a gain of four points since a May survey by the same organization.

The poll also shows that the number of Californians who think that Cranston’s job performance is good or excellent has gone up from 37% to 44% since May.

“This further demonstrates that Alan Cranston has a strong base of support in California,” said Cranston spokesman Kam Kuwata. “The poll shows him getting Republicans as well as Democrats, which is what he has always done.”

For much of the last three months, Cranston has run a series of filmed TV commercials listing his accomplishments and showing him working late in Washington. At the same time, Cranston has aggressively attacked Zschau’s House voting record in an effort to raise doubts about the relatively unknown challenger.

The Good News

And Cranston’s campaign continues to frustrate Zschau’s strong desire for one-on-one debates.

Zschau’s aides said the good news for them in the latest poll is that they have not slipped since May, when they were also at 38% in a match-up with Cranston.

But the bad news is that undecided voters seem to be making up their minds in favor of Cranston, increasing his lead. The question now is whether Zschau will now step up his attacks on the senator.

Not yet, according to Zschau spokesman Jim LeMunyon.

“A voter has to know who a challenger is in order to maximize the charges,” LeMunyon said Wednesday. “So this summer we are laying the groundwork to make sure people know who Ed is, and we’ve got September and October to punch it out with Cranston if that is what is called for.

“Alan is getting 31% of the moderate Republicans (in the new California Poll), so what we have to do is let moderate Republicans know who Ed is,” LeMunyon said.

No ‘Vicious Attacks’

Zschau got sustained applause when he told a bipartisan group in Sacramento recently that “if you are expecting vicious attacks from me you will be disappointed. . . . What I will be doing in this campaign is re-emphasizing what I have to offer this state and I would expect Alan Cranston to do the same. . . . The voters are interested in what are you going to do as a U.S. senator, rather than telling (them) all the bad things about your opponent you can think of.”

Democratic political consultant Harvey Englander of Newport Beach, who has been watching the Cranston-Zschau battle closely, said Wednesday he expects Zschau to take off the gloves against Cranston before too much longer.

“My Republican contacts tell me that Zschau is going to become very aggressive,” he said.