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.

"I really don't view the world in terms of political capital," Huntsman said. "People either like what you're doing or they don't." If they like it, "I'll assume we'll get their vote again. If not, it'll go to someone else."

The private-school voucher issue will likely be part of both the governor's and attorney general's races.

Shurtleff "fired" Hill as an assistant attorney general advising the Utah State Office of Education last year after she opposed his legal interpretation that the 2007 voucher bill had to be implemented. Hill continued giving legal advice to the office, which was technically her boss, and the state board of education. Ultimately, her side won the voucher case before the Utah Supreme Court. She remains a state education office attorney.

Utahns voted down the voucher bill last November, much to the chagrin of conservative GOP legislators who passed it.

Huntsman ran in 2004 on a platform of giving parents of children who attend private schools a tax break — and he signed the voucher bill into law. But he declined to campaign heavily in favor of the November voucher referendum, saying citizens should have their say at the ballot box.

Jones' new poll finds that 90 percent of Republicans favor Huntsman. But the governor also gets the votes of 52 percent of the Democrats and 69 percent of the political independents.

Springmeyer says he expects all of the Democrats to come home to his campaign, and he'll get a lot of independent votes as well. "Huntsman can't win this thing with only Republican voters," Springmeyer told the Salt Lake County Democratic Convention last month.

The poll shows that Shurtleff gets 82 percent of the GOP vote, 34 percent of the Democratic vote and 54 percent of the independent voters.

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Contributing: Lisa Riley Roche
E-mail: bbjr@desnews.com