Shurtleff downplays big lead

Although poll numbers indicate that he could coast into a second term, incumbent Attorney General Mark Shurtleff says he will not allow it.

In fact, he points to a slip in his support as proof that he will be in a downright tight race come November — even if that slip is a mere 6 percent, down from 61 percent in May to 55 percent in the most recent Deseret Morning News/KSL-TV poll conducted by Dan Jones. His Democratic opponent, Greg Skordas, has 20 percent support, while Libertarian Andrew McCullough has 3 percent.

The poll of 930 voters was conducted July 6-10, and it has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percent.

"We said from the first that we're going to take this seriously," Shurtleff said. "I'm going to work hard in the race, whether I'm up by forty points or up by five points."

Shurtleff said he plans to focus on getting his name out to the 21 percent of voters who are still undecided in the race, an admittedly difficult challenge in a campaign season that is dominated by the Utah governor's race, the 2nd District Congressional race, and even the Salt Lake County mayor's race.

"We aren't going to get the coverage that the governor race gets, so we have to get their attention other ways," he said. "We're going to work hard on the grass-roots level and get our lawn signs out. And we're planning a media buy."

Skordas said that his improvement in the numbers — he was at 18 percent in the May poll — and the increase in undecided voters shows that he has started to gain some momentum.

"They're better than we had a couple of months ago," Skordas said. "We're headed in the right direction. I'm happy where we are right now."

If Skordas does have a chance, poll numbers indicate he will not only need to convince the independent voter to swing to a Democrat; he will also have to convince his fellow party members to stay with him. Among the independent voters, 32 percent remained undecided, while Skordas only had 65 percent support among Democrats. By contrast, Shurtleff has 80 percent of Republicans supporting him.

From religious groups, Shurtleff received the strongest support from members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with 65 percent support. He also had more support, although less than 50 percent, from voters who belong to Protestant faiths. Skordas had 42 percent support from Catholics, 41 percent from other religions, and 44 percent from those with no religion.

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E-mail: jloftin@desnews.com