Favorable rating The number of people with a favorable opinion of Democratic Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono is rising as Republican gubernatorial candidate Linda Lingle's numbers slip slightly, according to a statewide poll.
rises for Hirono,
dips for Lingle
The most recent poll shows similar
Ratings for Hirono rises, dips for Lingle
figures for both candidates
McDermott is skeptical of latest poll
By Crystal Kua
ckua@starbulletin.comThe Star-Bulletin/KITV 4 News poll asked whether those who recognized Hirono and Lingle had a favorable, unfavorable or neutral opinion of them.
The public's current opinion of both is about the same.
Hirono had a favorable rating of 44 percent, unfavorable at 19 percent and neutral at 37 percent. The favorable opinion for Lingle was 43 percent, unfavorable was 21 percent and neutral at 36 percent.
But the public's favorable opinion for Hirono jumped 14 percentage points from ratings she received in previous polls.
In January and May 2001 -- the last two times the public was surveyed on its opinion of Hirono -- the percent of respondents with a favorable opinion of her was 31 and 30, respectively.
Lingle's favorable rating had been on the rise in polls taken in January and May 2001 and this past February. She went from 43 percent to 45 percent to 46 percent. Lingle's current favorable score went down by 3 percentage points and takes her to levels she was at nearly two years ago.
The poll was taken by Market Trends Pacific from Oct. 17-24 of randomly selected likely voters who recognized the candidates. The base was 582 for Lingle and 583 for Hirono. The margin of error is plus or minus 4.1 percent for both.
Bob Toyofuku, Hirono's campaign manager, said the favorable ratings coupled with the poll's head-to-head comparison numbers show the momentum is with Hirono. "Whenever I look at numbers, more than the specific number itself, you look at the trend. Obviously, if you're not moving or you're going down that's not where you want to be. But if your trend is going up and there's a significant jump -- which this is as well as the horse race numbers -- it was a big jump for her," Toyofuku said.
Hawaii Republican Party Chairman Micah Kane said it's hard to say whether the public opinion of the candidates will translate into votes and he believes voter turnout will be the deciding factor.
"Turnout is absolutely critical. The Democrats are trying to do everything they can to discourage the voters and that's why they've gone dirty. It's to their advantage if people stay home and not vote."
But Toyofuku said it was Lingle who started the negative campaigning. "Linda started a negative campaign right after the primary and her ads, maybe they're backfiring a little bit on her."
The poll also showed the ratings for Hirono's and Lingle's running mates.
Of those surveyed, 33 percent had a favorable opinion of GOP lieutenant governor candidate James "Duke" Aiona. Those who had a favorable opinion of Democrat Matt Matsunaga came in at 47 percent.
