Corbett, Onorato lead wide open gov primaries

Attorney General Tom Corbett and Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato are are leading in their respective gubernatorial primary contests, but at least two-thirds of voters from each party are undecided two months before primary day, according to a new poll.

The Franklin & Marshall College survey released Wednesday was one of numerous polls that have shown no candidate dominating the wide open races, with the inevitable blitz of campaign commercials yet to begin on TV. In the Democratic primary, Onorato wins 11 percent of the vote, compared to 7 percent for Auditor General Jack Wagner, 5 percent for Montgomery County Commissioner Joe Hoeffel and 4 percent for state Senator Anthony Williams (D-Philadelphia). Seventy-one percent of voters remain undecided, and with more campaign cash on hand than his three rivals combined, Onorato is well-positioned to make inroads with undecided voters in the closing weeks.

In the GOP primary, Corbett garners 28 percent of the vote, continuing a trend of relatively meager showings considering the raft of free publicity afforded by his high-profile Capitol corruption probe. But only 4 percent of voters support Corbett’s sole primary rival, state Representative Sam Rohrer, and 66 percent are undecided.

Though Corbett has broken the 40-percent mark in some surveys, the Franklin & Marshall poll has consistently shown him under 30 percent. The latest survey offers a clue as to why: though almost half of registered voters say they’ve heard of the so-called Bonusgate trials spearheaded by Corbett, only 5 percent of registered voters are following the cases closely.

The survey of 964 registered voters, conducted March 15-21, had a margin of error of 3.2 percent. The margin of error for the sample of 483 Democrats was 4.5 percent and the margin of error for the 353 Republicans surveyed was 5.2 percent.

Click here to see the full poll.