The poll records her highest disapproval rating since she won office in 1992. Poll: Feinstein's numbers slipping

Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s approval rating among California voters has slipped in recent months, forecasting possible trouble for the 77-year-old senator as she prepares to campaign for her long-held Senate seat next year, a new poll shows.

A new Field Poll survey found that 43 percent of California voters approve of the job Feinstein is doing, while 39 percent disapprove - her highest disapproval rating in the year before an election since she won office in 1992. Of those polled, 18 percent had no opinion.


The numbers reflect a decline from a Field Poll in March, which found 48 percent of voters approving and 33 percent disapproving.

“With Feinstein, we’ve never seen these kinds of numbers before, where it’s so close,” Field poll director Mark DiCamillo told the San Francisco Chronicle. “I was more surprised in March, but to see it replicated - this was a large sample - I just think it’s a very different economic and political backdrop we’re going to have in 2012 than we’ve seen in any previous election year for Feinstein.”

The new numbers reflect a double-digit drop off since in 2005, when Feinstein enjoyed a nearly six-in-ten approval ahead of the next year’s election. Her popularity also was similar in 1999 when 59 percent of Californians approved.

Roughly two-thirds of Democrats still favor Feinstein, with 19 percent in opposition. Republicans strongly oppose the senator, with 70 percent disapproving levels and only 15 percent in approval. Independents are roughly evenly split.

The Field poll was conducted between June 3 and 13, with a sample of 950 registered California voters. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.3 percentage points.