Utahns warm a bit to 4th Leavitt term

Utahns seem to be warming a bit to the idea of Gov. Mike Leavitt running for a fourth four-year term next year, a new Deseret Morning News/KSL-TV poll shows.

Still, more people don't want Leavitt to run than those who do, a Dan Jones & Associates survey finds.

Leavitt, 52, says he'll likely announce in September whether he'll seek what would be a record-setting fourth term in 2004 or run for some other office or retire from elective politics.

Jones also found that Leavitt leads among possible Republican candidates. But Jon Huntsman Jr., a former U.S. and trade ambassador, is pulling closer to the governor.

And University of Utah law school dean Scott Matheson Jr. is well ahead of other possible Democratic gubernatorial candidates, the poll shows.

In April, Jones asked what's known as a "naked re-elect" question on Leavitt: Should he run again or is it time to give someone new a chance to serve as governor? Sixty percent of Utahns said then that Leavitt should not run again — not a good number for the governor.

In the new poll the question is worded a bit differently: Should Leavitt seek a fourth term or should he not?

Jones found that 49 percent said Leavitt should not run again. But 45 percent said he should.

The new poll is of 607 adults, contacted by phone from July 9 to July 16 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.0 percent.

Joe Cannon, state GOP chairman, says the new poll numbers are good news for Leavitt.

"Statistically, it is a significant change for the better for the governor," he said. "It sounds pretty encouraging for him, should he decide" to run again.

Many hopefuls

Leavitt's political future has been in the news recently, as several Republican and Democratic candidates have said they plan to run next year whether or not Leavitt seeks re-election.

Huntsman, son of billionaire industrialist/philanthropist Jon M. Huntsman, maintains he won't run against Leavitt, whom he calls a friend, should the governor run again. But several Republicans have said they are in the race; others who have yet to announce say their decisions won't be affect by Leavitt's action.

Asked who they support among the possible GOP gubernatorial candidates next year, 30 percent of those polled by Jones said Leavitt. That's about where he was in the April survey.