Kounalakis Leads Hawks in California Treasurer Race
ActiVote’s October 22, 2026 California Treasurer poll finds that Democrat Eleni Kounalakis leads Republican Jennifer Hawks by 19.8%. 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%.
Kounalakis leads in almost every group: among urban voters, voters of every age, women and men, White and Latino voters, and at every level of income and education. Hawks leads among rural voters, and suburban voters are close to even, 51% to 49% for Kounalakis. 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: Kounalakis takes 86% of Democrats and Hawks 88% of Republicans. Independents favor Kounalakis by 63% to 37%, 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 Kounalakis and Hawks 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.
Kounalakis holds her side of the spectrum more firmly than Hawks holds hers. Kounalakis takes 99% of the left and 87% of the moderate left, while Hawks takes 88% of the right and 72% of the moderate right. On top of that, Kounalakis wins the center by 71% to 29%.
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 | 400 LV | Unweighted | Weighted | Eleni Kounalakis | Jennifer Hawks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| California | ±4.9% MoE | 100% | 100% | 59.9% | 40.1% |
| Political Spectrum | Left | 25% | 20% | 99% | 1% |
| Moderate Left | 28% | 20% | 87% | 13% | |
| Center | 19% | 20% | 71% | 29% | |
| Moderate Right | 13% | 20% | 28% | 72% | |
| Right | 15% | 20% | 12% | 88% | |
| Region | rural | 19% | 17% | 42% | 58% |
| suburban | 22% | 21% | 51% | 49% | |
| urban | 59% | 62% | 68% | 32% | |
| Age | 18-29 | 24% | 16% | 71% | 29% |
| 30-49 | 37% | 29% | 65% | 35% | |
| 50-64 | 22% | 22% | 51% | 49% | |
| 65+ | 16% | 33% | 55% | 45% | |
| Gender | F | 38% | 53% | 63% | 37% |
| M | 62% | 47% | 56% | 44% | |
| Party | D | 57% | 48% | 86% | 14% |
| R | 22% | 28% | 12% | 88% | |
| I | 12% | 18% | 63% | 37% | |
| Ethnicity | White | 68% | 51% | 54% | 46% |
| Latino | 23% | 30% | 61% | 39% | |
| Income | Low | 25% | 17% | 59% | 41% |
| Middle | 23% | 29% | 63% | 37% | |
| High | 53% | 54% | 58% | 42% | |
| Education | HS | 16% | 21% | 60% | 40% |
| College | 74% | 62% | 57% | 43% | |
| Grad | 10% | 17% | 70% | 30% |