Lingle gains The poll was conducted after the Campaign Spending Commission raised allegations of improper fund raising in Harris' 2000 mayoral campaign.
and Harris slips
Republican candidate for governor
Linda Lingle continues to show
widespread support, while the campaign
of her nearest Democratic rival Mayor
Jeremy Harris has slipped, according
to a new statewide poll.By Richard Borreca
rborreca@starbulletin.comHarris, however, still enjoys a lead in the opinion poll, over his two Democratic rivals, former senator and city managing director D.G. "Andy" Anderson and Manoa Rep. Ed Case.
The poll was taken between Jan. 26 and Feb. 3 of 601 persons who said they were likely to vote. The poll was conducted by Market Trends Pacific Inc. for the Honolulu Star-Bulletin and KITV-4. It has a margin of error of plus or minus four percentage points.
Harris and Lingle, who have been considered the leading Democratic and Republican candidates, command the most name recognition. But Anderson, who has run unsuccessfully for governor and mayor as a Republican, is recognized by 80 percent of the voters."I find that very encouraging, I thought my name identification would be a problem," Anderson said. The former GOP chairman, who switched to the Democratic Party last year, is the only candidate to air any television commercials in this campaign season.
The poll shows that Lingle enjoys a favorable rating with nearly half of the voters and that has proved consistent since the poll started measuring her rating last year.
Harris had had the same strong ranking, but it dropped in this last period.
Public opinion of him is rated unfavorable by 20 percent, which is the highest negative ranking since Harris had a 26 percent unfavorable rating in May 2000.
Wanda Kakugawa, president of Market Trends Pacific, says while it is too early to use an opinion poll to predict the fall political races, it shows that Lingle has made a strong impression and that being out of office for nearly four years hasn't diminished it.
"I am also not surprised in the increase in unfavorable rating for Harris," Kakugawa said, noting that the recent publicity about the Harris campaign fund raising would detract from his campaign.Lingle also said the drop in Harris' ratings was expected after the Campaign Spending Commission said the Harris campaign violated state campaign laws and turned the matter over to the city prosecutor for criminal prosecution. Harris has denied the charges, saying they are the result of a personal vendetta by the campaign spending commission executive director Robert Watada.
Harris is viewed most favorably on Oahu and least favorably on the Big Island, where just a quarter of the voters give him good marks.
He also is much better liked by nonunion rather than union voters. Whites and Filipino-American voters give Harris high marks, while Japanese-American voters are less supportive.
In comparison, while Harris gets a favorable rating from 38 percent of the white voters, Lingle gets a 68 percent favorable rating from Caucasians. Lingle gets her lowest marks from AJA voters.
She also gets slightly higher marks from nonunion households.
Democrat Case said the poll shows he needs to do more work publicizing his campaign for governor. Case was recognized by just 38 percent of the voters, but the Manoa Democratic House member said he has a strong favorable rating from those who know him.
"For me there is a lot more of an upside and a lot of opportunity," Case said. "The poll shows I don't have to reinvent my message, I just have to get it out, to deliver it to voters."
TRACKING THE FRONTRUNNERS
|