Ma Leads Romero in California Lt. Governor Race
ActiVote’s October 22, 2026 California Lt. Governor poll finds that Democrat Fiona Ma leads Republican Gloria Romero by 19.2%. The poll was in the field between October 4 and October 22 (median field date of October 13). The poll was among 400 likely midterm voters and has an average expected error of 4.9%.
Ma leads among suburban and urban voters, voters under 50 and aged 65 and older, women and men, White and Latino voters, and at every level of income and education. Romero leads among rural voters and voters aged 50 to 64. These group figures rest on subsamples for which the expected error is considerably larger than the 4.9% for the poll as a whole.
Both candidates hold their own party: Ma takes 88% of Democrats and Romero 89% of Republicans. Independents favor Ma by 60% to 40%, and Democrats make up a much larger share of the likely electorate in this poll than Republicans (48% against 28%).
Political Spectrum
The following graph shows the support for Ma and Romero among left, moderate left, center, moderate right, and right voters. These groups are defined by splitting the California electorate in 5 equal sized groups of 20% each.
Ma holds her side of the spectrum more firmly than Romero holds hers. Ma takes 98% of the left and 83% of the moderate left, while Romero takes 85% of the right and 67% of the moderate right. On top of that, Ma wins the center by 67% to 33%.
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 | 400 LV | Unweighted | Weighted | Fiona Ma | Gloria Romero |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| California | ±4.9% MoE | 100% | 100% | 59.6% | 40.4% |
| Political Spectrum | Left | 23% | 20% | 98% | 2% |
| Moderate Left | 25% | 20% | 83% | 17% | |
| Center | 20% | 20% | 67% | 33% | |
| Moderate Right | 15% | 20% | 33% | 67% | |
| Right | 18% | 20% | 15% | 85% | |
| Region | rural | 19% | 17% | 36% | 64% |
| suburban | 21% | 21% | 62% | 38% | |
| urban | 60% | 62% | 65% | 35% | |
| Age | 18-29 | 23% | 16% | 79% | 21% |
| 30-49 | 38% | 29% | 57% | 43% | |
| 50-64 | 24% | 22% | 49% | 51% | |
| 65+ | 15% | 33% | 59% | 41% | |
| Gender | F | 38% | 53% | 65% | 35% |
| M | 62% | 47% | 54% | 46% | |
| Party | D | 55% | 48% | 88% | 12% |
| R | 24% | 28% | 11% | 89% | |
| I | 12% | 18% | 60% | 40% | |
| Ethnicity | White | 69% | 51% | 52% | 48% |
| Latino | 23% | 30% | 60% | 40% | |
| Income | Low | 26% | 17% | 53% | 47% |
| Middle | 23% | 29% | 59% | 41% | |
| High | 52% | 54% | 62% | 38% | |
| Education | HS | 20% | 21% | 57% | 43% |
| College | 71% | 62% | 56% | 44% | |
| Grad | 10% | 17% | 76% | 24% |