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Aichele claims massive edge in internal poll

Chester County Commissioner Carol Aichele released an internal poll memo Wednesday that showed her enjoying blowout-size approval ratings compared to her Republican rivals for Lieutenant Governor, but a review of the survey’s details makes it clear that the methodology was tilted in her favor.

The survey, conducted by the GOP firm Susquehanna Polling & Research on Aichele’s behalf, polled a wide swath of Republicans, Democrats and independents, in what was a bid by the Aichele campaign to showcase her bipartisan appeal on a general election ticket. In the poll, 49 percent of respondents favored Aichele over other candidates, more than four times the support enjoyed by any other candidate. Former Lancaster GOP chairman Chet Beiler had 12 percent, Bucks County Commissioner Jim Cawley had nine percent and political operative and pastor Joe Watkins had seven percent.

Aichele shared a three-page poll memo with supporters Wednesday afternoon, quoting Susquehanna pollster James Lee as saying she is “the best choice to run as a team with the Republican nominee for governor in November” and “the best candidate to help the GOP nominee for governor shore up support with critical ‘swing’ voters and those who say they are still undecided in the governor’s race.”

The poll memo sent to supporters in an e-mail did not include details of the biographical sketches of the candidates provided to survey respondents. A fuller poll memo obtained by pa2010.com indicates that Aichele was described as “the only candidate with a diverse background as a former teacher, small business person and as someone who grew up on a family farm.”

The survey of 700 likely general election voters, which had a margin of error of 3.7 percent, also prefaced questions about the candidates with biographical setups alluding to Aichele’s record in government service.

Along with Cawley and Watkins, Aichele is seen as one of the leading candidates to join presumptive gubernatorial nominee Tom Corbett on a GOP ticket. Since Cawley was endorsed by southeast Republican leaders earlier this month, Aichele has been looking to make up ground amongst insiders. She asked supporters to “pass this information along to your friends and fellow party leaders so that they too can see why I am the best choice for Lieutenant Governor.”

The poll also showed Corbett topping Democrat Dan Onorato 44 percent to 28 percent in a potential general election matchup, with a quarter of voters undecided.

Click here to see the poll memo e-mailed to Aichele supporters.

Click here to see the full poll memo.

January 27, 2010 at 11:10 pm

--Dan Hirschhorn

Tags: Carol Aichele, Jim Cawley, Joe Watkins, Lt. Gov.

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