Poll Shows Major Gerlach Strengths in Governor’s Race

By GERLACH FOR PA
(Exton, PA) – The Gerlach for Governor campaign today released an internal polling memo from mid-July detailing key data among likely Republican Primary voters about the type of candidate they are looking for as their next Governor. Among them:

By a 53-26% margin, voters prefer Jim Gerlach’s public service biography over Tom Corbett’s law and order biography.
By a 73-16% margin, voters prefer a legislator who has dealt with a variety of issues, over a career prosecutor who has dealt only with law and order issues.
In the Philadelphia media market, the state’s largest and most expensive to penetrate, Gerlach is leading Corbett 25-20%. Gerlach represents just a small segment of that market in Congress.
Among voters who know Jim Gerlach, he leads Corbett 36-32%.
After voters were given more information on Gerlach’s legislative record and learned a bit more about him, voters chose Gerlach by a 33-point margin, 52-19%.
Despite an expected Corbett lead on the head-to-head ballot test after running two statewide campaigns, he fails to break the 50% or even the 40% mark, proving Corbett is not as well-known or favorably viewed as his supporters contend. Most importantly, this “underperformance” has now been documented in three statewide polls.
“This is great news for our campaign and identifies a clear path to victory. Contrary to Corbett’s record, Congressman Gerlach’s long record of cutting taxes, cutting welfare rolls, fighting for policies that create jobs and improving our communities fits closely with a political environment focused on jobs and the economy,” said Mark Campbell, spokesman for the Gerlach campaign.

The internal poll, conducted June 17th and 18th by leading national Republican polling firm Wilson Research Strategies, surveyed 600 likely Republican voters, with a margin of error of +/- 4%.

“There’s no doubt that Tom Corbett is leading the race at this early stage, since he is the only one known in every region of the state. But to only receive 39% of the early ballot demonstrates his vulnerability. The data shows that once Republicans learn more about Jim Gerlach, which they will over the course of the campaign, he will do very well,” added Campbell. “We believe Republicans deserve a choice, and an open primary will ensure that only the most qualified Republican candidate make it to November. We are confident that Jim Gerlach will be their choice for Governor, which is why we are in it to win it.”

A copy of the polling memo can be downloaded here or by typing the following link into your browser: http://www.gerlachforpa.com/pdf/WRSGerlachforPAJune09.pdf.