Voters still haven't really tuned in to the Salt Lake County mayor's race.
The results of a Deseret News/KSL-TV poll conducted by Dan Jones & Associates show Democrat Karen Crompton leading Republican Nancy Workman 27 percent to 19 percent. But more telling is the fact that 47 percent of respondents are undecided — slightly more than all those supporting either Crompton and Workman combined.
"It's a long time to November," Crompton explained. "Neither of us has been out there exposed to the public yet." Until now the candidates have been concentrating on their party delegates.
Contributing to the indecision is that this is the first Salt Lake County mayoral race in history, with the county's form of government changing next year. Many involved in the process have observed considerable confusion among voters regarding what exactly a county mayor is and what that person does.
"I had to do a lot of explaining at first, but now they're starting to get it," Workman said. "Every time you hit the paper with this, people grasp it a little bit more."
The change of government will replace three county commissioners, who carry out both executive and legislative duties, with a nine-member council (legislative) and mayor (executive). Those 10 elected officials will join the county assessor, auditor, clerk, district attorney, recorder, sheriff, surveyor and treasurer, all of whom are elected, for a total of 18 elected officials. The change of form will occur Jan. 1, 2001.
"There are a whole lot of things coming at (the general public) that they don't quite grasp," said Workman, currently the county recorder.
Adding to the confusion over the change is the term "county mayor," which many people immediately associate with the mayor of their city. The county mayor is different in that the person is elected by everyone in the county, whether or not they live in a city.
Amidst all that's new, there is still party affiliation to keep one grounded . If a voter doesn't understand what exactly the office is, at least he can know which candidate hails from his party of choice.
In this case, the 17 percent of undecided Democrats surveyed were vastly outnumbered by the 57 percent of Republicans who haven't yet made up their minds. Workman attributed that to the fact that there is only one Democrat in the race while she still has two intraparty challengers, Calvin Brown and Frank Irish.
Since there is not yet one candidate from each party, "I don't think the poll means much," Workman said. "After convention (April 29) it will be a whole different ballgame."
Crompton agreed that it's still early in the race, and that a poll at this stage simply measures name identification more than anything else.
"A lot of people remember my race of two years ago (against County Commissioner Mary Callaghan) so it may be a reflection of that," she said. "I feel good that my name recognition is at least that high."
But whatever the shortcomings of the poll, "I'd rather be ahead in a poll than behind in a poll anytime one is taken," Crompton said. "That's the bottom line."
KSL-TV will do a story on this poll on its 10 p.m. newscast tonight.
You can reach Alan Edwards by e-mail at alan@desnews.com