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Poll: Onorato narrowly edges Hoeffel, Wagner in wide open primary

Next year’s Democratic primary for governor remains a crowded free-for-all, with Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato holding a small lead over his most well-known opponents, according to a new poll.

The Quinnipiac University survey released Wednesday showed Onorato garnering 14 percent of the primary vote among registered Democrats, compared to 12 percent for Montgomery County Commissioner Joe Hoeffel and 11 percent for state Auditor General Jack Wagner. Scranton Mayor Chris Doherty was backed by 8 percent of respondents, and Philadelphia businessman Tom Knox came in last with 5 percent of the vote.

But almost half of the primary electorate remains undecided, making the poll largely in line with other surveys that have found a race still very much up for grabs.

“The candidates just aren’t that visible to most voters, and that race is still far, far away from even having a front-runner,” Quinnipiac assistant polling director Peter Brown said.

Hoeffel only recently entered the race, but his second-place showing demonstrates that he remains a well-known name to tuned-in primary voters.

And a vast majority of Democrats haven’t heard enough about any of the candidates to form opinions. Almost three-quarters of Democrats don’t know enough about Onorato, including 87 percent in the vote-rich southeast, where he will formally launch his campaign next week. Wagner has less room to define himself in voters’ minds, with 65 percent of Democrats not knowing enough about him.

The survey of 1,100 Pennsylvania voters was conducted Sept. 21-28, with a margin of error of 4.5 percent for primary results.

Click here to see the full poll.

September 30, 2009 at 9:07 am

--Dan Hirschhorn

Tags: Chris Doherty, Dan Onorato, Jack Wagner, Joe Hoeffel, Tom Knox

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