Governor, Shurtleff top polls

Published: Sunday, May 25, 2008 12:12 a.m. MDT
 |  E-MAIL | PRINT | FONT + - 
Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. and Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, both Republicans, hold big leads in their respective re-election races this year, a new poll shows.

Huntsman, who has said he will serve only two terms as governor, has the support of 77 percent of registered voters, according to a survey conducted for the Deseret News and KSL-TV.

Shurtleff, a former Salt Lake County commissioner seeking a third, four-year term as Utah's chief law enforcement officer, has 65 percent support, pollster Dan Jones & Associates found in the survey, finished last week.

Huntsman and Shurtleff don't have a GOP primary this year but face opposition in November's general election. Huntsman is being challenged by local business/government consultant Bob Springmeyer, a Democrat, and former computer store owner Dell "Superdell" Schanze, a Libertarian.

Shurtleff faces Democrat Jean Welch Hill and W. Andrew McCullough, a Libertarian Party member who has run for AG before.

In the governor's race, where three-quarters of voters pick Huntsman, Springmeyer gets 13 percent of the vote and Schanze gets 1 percent. Only 8 percent were undecided, Jones found. (Jones, an independent pollster, has also done work for Huntsman this year.)

Story continues below

Shurtleff is slightly less popular. He would get two-thirds of the vote if the election were held today, while Hill would 17 percent and McCullough 3 percent. Thirteen percent were undecided.

Jones polled 604 registered voters statewide, with a margin of error plus or minus 4 percent.

Speaking to the newspaper after his monthly news conference last week, Huntsman said he is "obviously very heartened by the numbers" in the newspaper's poll. But he said he takes nothing for granted.

"We're just going to keep doing what we think is in the best long-term interest of our state and its citizens and let the chips fall where they may," the governor said.

Springmeyer said he was encouraged by his showing, even at 13 percent.

"That looks great," he said. "We have some momentum, we're moving up." He said his "big job" is getting people to know him — and he doesn't think there will be major movement in the polls until September. "Frankly, I expect to win this thing. It will be a great year for Democrats" in Utah.

"There is a lot of anger with the state Legislature. A lot of disappointment that the governor hasn't stepped up and represented the state on things like vouchers." As November nears, "you will really see our showing" among the people, Springmeyer said.

Huntsman said he won't take into account his high poll numbers (he also has a high job-approval rating) in deciding what issues to take on as governor. One of those issues is Huntsman's belief that Utah's private club laws should be changed so that drinkers don't have to fill out applications and pay membership fees.

Recent comments

In the race for AG, I have said before that the Democrats have put up...

Andrew | May 26, 2008 at 4:04 p.m.

Gov Huntsman, please take a note from Obama's campaign, adopt a...

HELP | May 25, 2008 at 10:57 p.m.

Governor Jon Huntsman promised a 10 point economic development plan...

chark | May 25, 2008 at 9:58 p.m.

previousnext

Latest comments

why on earth would chicago give up john salmons... he is the only scoring...

Ya...I'm with Megan on this one...with one addition: I would add, "sarcastic"...

It doesnt matter, the Obama sheeple are so enamored with their great leader...

"Change the organizational structure and you will get results". Amen to...

None of you even have a clue of what the NSA does do you? Are we really...

Single-payer system best

An Observer | 5:28 p.m. July 9, 2009 ... is correct. We need principle...

Patriotism is NOT a religious acitivity. This was just over the top.

A phony ceremony intended to manipulate the feelings of the audience. What a...

It doesn't matter that the flag was not actually burned, it was still...

The only trade the Jazz should make is trading AK and Matt to the Rockets for...

Advertisements