Buttars faces four Republicans who are trying to unseat him within his own party. They include Gary Armstrong, Trevor Darby, Kathy Hilton and Wendy Smith-DeRusha. Democrat John Rendell also filed for the Senate District 10 race, as did two candidates from the Constitution Party, Steve Maxfield and Randy Lee Browning.

The Salt Lake County Republican Convention in May will whittle down the GOP field to either one or two candidates. If one candidate fails to get 60 percent of the delegate vote — and thus win the nomination outright — the top two vote-getters will face each other in a closed GOP primary the end of June. The GOP nominee will face Democrat Rendell and one of the two Constitution Party candidates.

Among Republican registered voters in Senate District 10, Jones found that only 32 percent of members of Buttars' own party want him to be re-elected, while 54 percent said another person should serve. Thirteen percent of GOP voters didn't have an opinion on Buttars' re-election, Jones found. Jones polled 208 registered voters in Senate District 10, with the results having a margin of error of plus or minus 6.9 percent.

Buttars did not return telephone calls Monday for comment.

Among registered voters statewide, Jones found that 40 percent of respondents said they believe their state senator deserves to be re-elected. Forty-four percent said someone new should serve in their Senate district, while 15 percent didn't know.

Jones found that 41 percent of registered voters said their state House member should be re-elected, with 42 percent saying it's time to let someone new serve.

All 75 House seats and 15 of the 29 Senate seats are up for election this year. Huntsman also has a re-election this year, as do Utah's three U.S. House seats. By far most incumbents seek re-election.

Utah is one of the most Republican states in the nation. Jones found in his latest poll that 51 percent of registered voters consider themselves Republicans; 17 percent said they are Democrats; while 26 percent said they are political independents. Five percent mentioned some other party and 1 percent declined to say.

Thus, in many areas of the state it is tough for a Democratic candidate to win because they are so out-numbered by Republicans, even if some of those Republicans are dissatisfied with their current incumbents.

Jones found 53 percent of registered voters said they would "definitely" or "probably" vote for a Republican for their legislative races this year, while 25 percent said they would "definitely" or "probably" vote for a Democrat.

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E-mail: bbjr@desnews.com