Candidates for Salt Lake City mayor have laced up their running shoes and are pounding the pavement hard this weekend in a final push to gain support heading into Tuesday's primary election.

The top four candidates campaigned just about everywhere Salt Lake City residents gathered Saturday, including the Avenues Street Fair and the University of Utah football game against Air Force.

Each candidate had his or her own message to pitch, but a universal line from all the candidates was: "Get out and vote."

"It's important that people remember that the primary is Tuesday and that we encourage them to go vote," said Keith Christensen, a former Salt Lake City councilman and Mayor Rocky Anderson's choice as his successor.

Christensen said political races featuring several candidates, such as the Salt Lake City mayoral race this year, make it even more crucial for voters to turn out for the primary.

"People can wake up on (Wednesday) and say, 'Oh, there was a primary yesterday? The person I wanted to vote for is not even on the ballot. What am I going to do?"' he said.

As the primary approaches, Jenny Wilson and her supporters have been active in placing where-to-vote information throughout the city in an effort to make sure her support base turns out.

"And I'm working the phones every minute I have," the Salt Lake County councilwoman said in an interview last week. "At this stage, it really is a 24-hour operation."

Dave Buhler said he expects about 25 percent to 30 percent voter turnout for the primary, and he's been targeting his campaign to those most likely to vote.

"I'd like to think there would be a bigger turnout than that," said Buhler, a Salt Lake City councilman. "This is an important election.... We're just focused on getting our message out and getting our supporters to the polls."

Ralph Becker said he's been sharing his vision for Salt Lake City door-to-door since March 31.

"We've been campaigning on a grass-roots level all the way through the campaign," Becker said. "That's the foundation of the voters we hope to get."

A Dan Jones & Associates poll conducted for the Deseret Morning News and released Saturday shows that Christensen has the most ground to make up of the four contenders in the final days before the primary.

According to the poll, Christensen has support of just 12 percent of registered voters, making him the odd man out in a tight race between Wilson (26 percent), Buhler (24 percent) and Becker (22 percent).

But Christensen, who's running without party affiliation, isn't giving up.

"I'd like people to know I'm the single most qualified candidate based on both civic experience and by private sector experience," he said.