THE TIMES POLL / CALIFORNIA ELECTIONS : Undecided Voters Key to Many Races : Most lower-profile state contests are too close to call, survey finds. Biggest leads are in matchups for lieutenant governor and attorney general.

Voters have yet to make up their minds in four low-profile statewide races on the Nov. 8 election ballot but hold more sharply defined opinions in matchups involving better-known hopefuls for lieutenant governor and attorney general, a Los Angeles Times Poll has found.

Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren, the only statewide Republican officeholder other than Gov. Pete Wilson, holds a 45% to 30% edge among likely voters over his Democratic challenger, Assemblyman Tom Umberg of Garden Grove.

Likewise, in the competition for lieutenant governor, another big-name politician, Democrat Gray Davis, maintains a 49% to 25% margin over his Republican rival, state Sen. Cathie Wright of Simi Valley.

With voters giving a slight advantage to Republicans when asked which party can best handle government, statewide GOP candidates, excluding Wright, appear to have a real opportunity to break the two-decade grip Democrats have held on most of these statewide offices.

Fueling Republican chances in November, for the first time in years, five of the six races are wide open without incumbents battling for reelection.

So far, with attention focused on the spirited battles for governor and U.S. Senate, the down-ballot races have generated scant attention.

The competition for these offices is expected to heat up as the major party candidates launch TV and radio advertising blitzes late in the campaign to bash their opponents and enhance their own standing with voters.

The statewide survey questioned 1,232 registered voters, including 821 likely voters. The margin of sampling error is 3 percentage points in either direction for registered voters. For likely voters, the margin of error is plus or minus 4 points.

Although voters are said to be in a “throw out the bums” mood, Lungren and Davis, currently state controller, seem to be escaping full-scale voter resentment toward incumbents. Still, in the races for attorney general and lieutenant governor, 25% of likely voters have yet to make up their minds. Their decisions could swing the outcome one way or the other.

The percentage of undecided voters markedly widens in other contests featuring less well-known figures. For example, in a matchup for secretary of state, 12-year Assemblyman Bill Jones (R-Fresno) registers 31% to 26% over Democrat Tony Miller, the acting secretary of state, with 42% of the likely voters not having made up their minds. Miller and Jones are vying to succeed longtime Secretary of State March Fong Eu.

Some campaign consultants suggest that Miller’s ballot designation as acting secretary of state will give his campaign a boost. John Brennan, director of The Times Poll, agreed that a favorably received occupation label on the ballot can shift results one way or another. Those questioned in the Times poll, when asked about a candidate, were not told his or her occupation.

Brennan said many voters will not be making up their minds until Election Day and their decisions will be influenced by a variety of factors, including TV ads not yet aired.

Brennan cited Phil Angelides of Sacramento, the Democratic candidate for state treasurer, who two weeks before the June primary was trailing his rival, state Sen. David A. Roberti of Van Nuys, by 14 percentage points. After airing strong TV attack ads, however, Angelides coasted to his party’s nomination.

In the general election campaign, Angelides again trails, this time to Republican Matthew K. Fong, a member of the state Board of Equalization from Hacienda Heights. The poll shows Fong ahead of Angelides, 39% to 29%, with those who haven’t made up their minds at 32%.

But Angelides has squirreled away $2.5 million in campaign funds for another last-minute advertising campaign for the treasurer’s job, currently occupied by Kathleen Brown. But whether the salvo makes a dent in Fong’s lead is unclear because Fong has managed to consolidate his Republican base, winning favor with 71% of all GOP voters while Angelides has support of only 54% of all Democrats, according to the poll.

The election to succeed Democrat John Garamendi as state insurance commissioner appears to be a tossup. State Sen. Art Torres (D-Los Angeles) and Assemblyman Charles W. Quackenbush (R-Cupertino) are in a virtual tie, 36% to 34%, with 29% of likely voters not having made up their minds.

Also running close for controller were Democratic newcomer Kathleen Connell and strong conservative Republican Tom McClintock, a former Republican assemblyman from Thousand Oaks. Connell was two points ahead, with 35% undecided. They are battling to succeed two-term Controller Davis.

Among likely voters, 60% have yet to make up their minds on who should succeed former Supt. of Public Instruction Bill Honig in that nonpartisan race. The poll found no clear front-runner, with the two finalists, Assemblywoman Delaine Eastin (D-Fremont) and Maureeen DiMarco, a Democrat who serves as the governor’s education adviser, both polling 20%.