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Poll: Guv race mostly unchanged
Less than three months before the primary, the political landscape in the race for governor remains mostly the same as voters wait to learn more about the candidate, according to a new poll.
The Franklin & Marshall College survey released Wednesday showed Attorney General Tom Corbett with a comfortable lead over state Representative Sam Rohrer (R-Berks) in the GOP primary, while the Democratic contest is still wide open. Corbett leads Rohrer 26 percent to four percent—but for all the talk of Corbett being the party’s presumptive nominee, 65 percent of voters are undecided.
On the Democratic side, Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato’s lead has disappeared, but the change is barely statistically significant. Onorato, Auditor General Jack Wagner and Montgomery County Commissioner Joe Hoeffel are all tied with six percent of the vote. Scranton Mayor Chris Doherty, who left the race last week, had four percent of the vote, and state Senator Anthony Williams (D-Philadelphia), who just entered the race this week, had one percent. Seventy-two percent of voters are still undecided, a number identical to last month’s survey.
With so many voters undecided, the flood of TV ads to come could prove decisive. With a wide financial advantage over his opponents, Onorato is well-positioned to take advantage of that dynamic.
The survey did not gauge general election match-ups.
February 24, 2010 at 10:27 am
Tags: Anthony Williams, Chris Doherty, Dan Onorato, Jack Wagner, Joe Hoeffel, Sam Rohrer, Tom Corbett
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Larry
Feb 24th, 2010
Kind of stupid to do a poll just of the primaries. Why wouldn’t they also poll Corbett-Onorato and Corbett-Wagner? Bizarre.
Joe the Janitor
Feb 24th, 2010
Go Joe!
allstate
Feb 24th, 2010
Wide open! Maybe Onorato’s money will start to kick in once the TV starts. But all the “safebetters”, who put their money on Danny O must be a little worried, I mean how are you the frontrunner and you’re in a 3-way tie? What’s the use of having all money if after 5 months of campaigning (and touting your money advantage) it doesn’t translate into anything but less support than what you started with. Things that make you go hum?
Lee Levan
Feb 24th, 2010
To Dan, or anyone who has a factual answer:
How unusual is it for 65% or 72% of those polled to be undecided less than 3 months before a major election such as for governor or senator? It seems almost inconceivable to me that it is not rare.
Could the large number of undecideds be a reflection of the much discussed disillusionment of the public with all politicians and their actions putting their parties ahead of the public good? If it is, doesn’t that mean incumbents should be shaking in their boots?
IntelligentVoter
Feb 25th, 2010
With the high number of undecideds in this race and in so many across the nation, there are going to be many surprises this year.
Maybe it is a good sign that voters are actually taking their job’s more seriously.
Lee Levan
Feb 25th, 2010
IV, I hope that your optimistic thought is an accurate one. My experience yields the more pessimistic conclusion that the high undecided numbers more likely indicate that the voters are sick of all the political crap we’ve seen in recent years and have become apathetic. I hope I’m wrong about that.