A new poll has Republican businessman John Cox less than a single percentage point behind Democratic Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom in the race for governor, 45.1 percent to 44.6 percent.

Of course, the internal poll was paid for by Cox. And the numbers come after the 496 people in the online survey were asked about the importance of a series of issues or proposals and given undisclosed “positive arguments likely to be made” by Cox and Newsom.

But the most interesting part of the poll is that it simulates a head-to-head matchup in the November governor’s race, ignoring the still very-much-undecided June 5 primary.

No problem. The poll by Smith Johnson Research was designed to show whether Cox had a chance against Newsom in November, so mission accomplished.

“Results of the survey demonstrated the viability of a John Cox candidacy,” the poll’s directors said in a Sunday memorandum.

But it seems a bit early for Cox to be talking about November.

A poll released early last month by the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California found Newsom at 23 percent, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa at 21 percent and Cox at 7 percent, in a scrum with three other candidates.

But a new survey by Newsom’s pollster, which The Chronicle obtained Thursday, indicates Cox could be on the ballot in November — with Newsom, of course.

In the survey of 1,000 likely voters done by nationally recognized pollster David Binder, Newsom corrals 26 percent of the vote; Cox, 16 percent; Democratic state Treasurer John Chiang, 13 percent; former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, 12 percent, Assemblyman Travis Allen, R-Huntington Beach, 10 percent; Democratic former Superintendent of Public Instruction Delaine Eastin, 7 percent; and former Hillary Clinton adviser Amanda Renteria, 4 percent. The survey found 12 percent of respondents were undecided.