Jerry Brown leads poll of gloomy California voters

California Attorney General Jerry Brown speaks outside the California Supreme Court in San Francisco, California in this March 5, 2009 file photo.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - California Attorney General Jerry Brown is by far the most popular candidate for governor in next year's election, but most voters in his party are unhappy that he is the only major Democrat running, according to a new poll on Sunday.

Sixty-five percent of Democrats surveyed in the Los Angeles Times/University of Southern California poll said they wanted additional Democratic Party options now that San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom had quit the race on October 30.

Fewer than a third were satisfied with Brown -- a former two-term governor, onetime Oakland mayor and three-time Democratic presidential hopeful -- as the only choice.

The withdrawal of Newsom, known nationally for his fight to legalize gay marriage but lagging in recent polls, left Brown as the only major politician seeking the Democratic nomination next year to succeed Arnold Schwarzenegger as governor.

Although he has yet to formally declare his candidacy, Brown drew the most favorable ratings in the gubernatorial field, 44 percent, not unsurprising in a state long known for its Democratic leanings as a whole.

His three most likely Republican opponents -- former EBay chief executive Meg Whitman, former Congressman Tom Campbell and state Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner -- remain little known by most voters. None was seen favorably by more than 17 percent of voters.

Schwarzenegger, barred by term limits from seeking reelection in 2010, has seen his popularity sputter amid California's budget crisis and a stubborn recession that, the poll showed, has left Californians deeply disillusioned.

VOTER DISAPPOINTMENT OR ANGER?

Nearly 80 percent of the 1,500 registered voters surveyed see the state on the wrong track -- even more than in 2003, when Schwarzenegger ousted then-incumbent Democratic Governor Gray Davis from office in a recall election.

A majority believe the state is worse off than the country as a whole and that California faces long-term decline that will drag on even after the national economy recovers.

Nearly half of those polled, and 53 percent of independents, doubted any of the current gubernatorial candidates can bring real change to the state.

But rather than the outrage expressed in congressional town-hall meetings and elsewhere in political circles this year, Californians' mood was closer to one of dejection, the poll showed. Many more voters said they felt disappointed than felt angry at the state's political leaders.

"You get angry when you think you can make a difference and make change," said Dan Schnur, head of USC's Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics. "But the predominant mood of the electorate in California seems to be, 'What's the use?'"

One notable exception to the gloomy sentiment was a 60 percent approval rating for U.S. President Barack Obama, boosting next year's reelection chances of U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer, a California Democrat and strong ally of the president.

Indeed, 59 percent of all those polled said they prefer a senator who would mostly support Obama's policies, including 48 percent of independents. Boxer also ranked especially high among Latinos, a growing political force in California.

One warning sign for Boxer, Schnur said, is evident in the 17-point gap between Obama's approval rating and hers, raising the question of whether Obama can "provide longer coattails for the Senate next year than he has for governor." Democrats running for governor in New Jersey and Virginia last week both lost, including incumbent New Jersey Democrat Jon Corzine.

(Editing by Eric Walsh)