Salt Lake County's two Democratic commissioners are ahead in their re-election races this year, the latest Deseret News/KSL poll shows, but their GOP challengers are within striking distance - each just 9 percentage points behind.
In his latest survey for the newspaper and TV station, pollster Dan Jones & Associates found that if the election were held today, Randy Horiuchi would be favored by 48 percent of county residents, his GOP challenger Gene Whitmore would get 39 percent support and 13 percent didn't know.In the other race, Commission Chairman Jim Bradley is favored by 40 percent of county residents, Republican Mary Alice Callaghan is favored by 31 percent and 29 percent didn't know.
Freshman commissioners Horiuchi and Bradley, elected in 1990, make up a majority on the three-member governing body. GOP Commissioner Brent Overson isn't up for election this year.
Bradley was an odds-on favorite when he defeated then-GOP Commissioner Bart Barker in 1990. But Horiuchi wasn't expected to beat Republican Commissioner Tom Shimizu. He unseated Shimizu by several hundred votes in a come-from-behind victory.
Jones' polling shows that more people have feelings about the Horiuchi/Whitmore race than do about the Bradley/Callaghan contest. Only 13 percent didn't have a preference in Horiuchi's race - a relatively small "don't know" number for a commission race. Nearly 30 percent didn't have a pick in Bradley's re-election.
An earlier Deseret News/KSL poll showed Horiuchi with much higher name identification than Bradley, so that's part of the reason. Also, Horiuchi was in the news before his 1990 election - and since.
He's famous for his quirky press conferences. As state Democratic Party chairman in the late 1980s, Horiuchi once held a press conference with a kitchen sink and standing in fishing waders. As a commissioner, in 1992 he appeared at a press conference in a toxic waste suit, complete with face mask, to criticize the family business dealings of then-GOP U.S. Senate candidate Bob Bennett.
A free-lance lobbyist before his 1990 election, Horiuchi has been criticized for several votes on the commission. Some citizen groups say he is too pro-development.
A former top aide to the late Gov. Scott M. Matheson, Bradley, on the other hand, is more low key. And Bradley has often found himself the lone dissenting vote on a number of important issues as Horiuchi and Overson voted in the majority.
To upset the Democratic incumbents, both Whitmore and Callaghan need to bring home the Republican vote. Jones found that 24 percent of Republicans in the county favor Horiuchi, while 23 percent of Republicans favor Bradley.
The poll was conducted July 26-28. Jones interviewed 257 registered voters in the county. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 7.5 percent.
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Deseret News/KSL poll
If the election were held today for Salt Lake County Commission for, whom would you vote?
RANDY HORIUCHI (D) 48%
GENE WHITMORE (R) 39%
DON'T KNOW 13%
If the election were held today for Salt Lake County Commission and the candidates were Jim Bradley (D) and Mary Alice Callaghan (R) for whom would you vote?
JIM BRADLEY (D) 40%
MARY ALICE CALLAGHAN (R) 31%
DON'T KNOW 29%
Margin of error +/-7.5% on interviews of 257 adult registered voters.
Poll conducted July 26-28, 1994. Conducted by Dan Jones & Associates. Copyright 1994 Deseret News. Dan Jones & Associates, an independent organization founded in 1980, polls for the Deseret News and KSL. Its clients include other organizations and some political candidates.