Becker leading Buhler in poll

Through personal appearances and some of his advertising, Buhler is trying to address the issue. This past week he made a point of saying how well he deals with all people, including the GOP-controlled Legislature. He pointed out how successful he was in getting his bills passed in the Legislature, comparing his bill-passed/bill-failed ratio to that of Becker's, which is far worse.

Buhler also has to fight a campaign by retiring Mayor Rocky Anderson to disparage the GOP city councilman's politics. Anderson didn't originally back Becker. Anderson endorsed and worked for former Councilman Keith Christensen, who finished a distant fourth in the primary.

The mayor immediately then endorsed Becker, criticizing Buhler — the pair having often butted heads over issues the past eight years.

Being a Republican, along with Anderson's criticisms, seems to have had an impact on Buhler's campaign, Jones found.

Becker has a 69 percent "favorable" rating in the new poll. Only 12 percent said they were "unfavorable" toward Becker.

But Buhler has only a 56 percent approval rating; 27 percent of city voters said they had an "unfavorable" opinion of the candidate.

Across the nation, a 56 percent approval rating is fine. But not in Utah. Here, candidates and officeholders often have approval ratings in the 60 and 70 percentiles. And having a 27 percent unfavorable rating is not good news for Buhler.

And should Buhler decide to heighten his criticism of Becker — which would fly in the face of one of Buhler's main campaign themes: that he's a "reasonable guy" who can get along with different types of people — in an attempt to cut into Becker's overall lead, then Buhler's unfavorable ratings would likely climb.

At least the two mayoral finalists can take heart in learning that Salt Lakers know them. Jones found that only 5 percent of voters had not heard of Becker; only 4 percent had not heard of Buhler.

In the past 25 years of mayoral elections in the city, the more liberal, non-Mormon candidates have won over the more conservative, often-LDS candidates.

This mayoral final pits a non-Mormon Democrat — Becker — against the LDS GOP candidate — Buhler.

Only 40 percent of city voters told Jones that they are "active" or "somewhat active" members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In other areas of the state, Mormons can make up 70 percent or more of voters.

Jones found that 22 percent of LDS voters like Becker, while 62 percent of Salt Lake Mormons favor Buhler.

In most other elections in the state, those numbers would mean a GOP/LDS candidate victory.

But as Jones' poll points out, those kinds of political/religious splits don't mean a win inside Salt Lake City.

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E-mail: bbjr@desnews.com