Yes, Ma’am, we here in California are getting tired of you

Even before Carly Fiorina has taken to the airwaves to take on the state’s junior Senator, a 28-year veteran of Washington politics, that partisan Democrat has seen her numbers drop in a state Obama carried with 61% of the vote:

California voters are giving U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer some of the lowest approval ratings of her career, as the three-term Democrat is in a statistical dead heat against first-time GOP office-seeker Carly Fiorina, according to a new Field Poll released today. . . .

Boxer’s slight numerical lead masks potentially serious problems for the senator, starting with how 52 percent of the respondents hold an unfavorable view of her.

At the same time, her job approval rating is among the lowest that Field has measured for her since she was first elected to the Senate in 1992: 43 percent of registered voters disapprove of her performance while 42 percent approve. Among likely voters, 48 percent disapprove and 42 percent approve.

Emphasis added.

That’s right, her approval is a full 18 points below Obama’s tally less than two years ago.  And she’s going to have a hard time changing minds.  Having been a fixture in the state’s politics since the dawn of the Clinton era, Mrs. Boxer is a known quantity:  “the new poll shows that whether voters love or hate her, 93 percent hold an opinion about Boxer.”

And when the campaign heats up and people learn of her record and arrogance in office, expect her unfavorables to increase.

The long and short of it is this:  if the race is about the incumbent, Barbara Boxer loses.

NB:  Edited and expanded.