Governor, Shurtleff top polls

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.)

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.