The race to replace Attorney General Paul Van Dam next year is up for grabs - the two Democrats and Republicans in the contest are neck and neck with no clear leader and nearly two-thirds of Utahns still undecided, the latest Deseret News/KSL-TV poll shows.
Van Dam decided late last year that he wouldn't seek a second, four-year term.Two Democrats - Van Dam's solicitor general Jan Graham and former 3rd District Judge Scott Daniels - and two Republicans - former Chief Deputy Attorney General Michael Deamer and Iron County Attorney Scott Burns - entered the race. None could get 70 percent support in their state party conventions, so there will be party primaries in both races.
Pollster Dan Jones & Associates found in a recent survey that if the election for attorney general were held today, Burns would get 11 percent of the vote, Daniels would receive 10 percent, Graham comes in at 9 percent and Deamer would have 7 percent. One percent mentioned someone else.
But a large 63 percent said they are undecided, Jones found.
Jones did not match Daniels and Graham or Burns and Deamer in possible party primaries.
However, in demographic breakouts, Jones found that among those who said they are voting in a Republican primary, Burns gets 16 percent support to Deamer's 12 percent support.
Of those who said they're voting in a Democratic primary, Daniels gets 22 percent support to Graham's 18 percent support.
Under Utah's open primary system, any registered voter can vote in any party's primary. But you can only vote in one primary. For example, you can't vote in the Republican U.S. Senate race and then switch and vote in the Democratic governor's race.
Because there will be primaries in races for the U.S. Senate, governor, 2nd Congressional District GOP and attorney general, most political experts believe Republicans will stay home and vote in the GOP primary and Democrats in their party's primary.
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(Poll)
Deseret News/KSL-TV poll
If the election were held today for Utah's attorney general for whom would you vote?
Scott Burns (R) 11%
Scott Daniels (D) 10%
Jan Graham (D) 9%
Mike Deamer (R) 7%
Other 1%
Don't know 63%
Conducted June 30-July 1, 1992
Sample size: 201. Error: +/-7%
1992 Deseret News
Conducted by Dan Jones & Associates