Democratic House Majority Super PAC Releases Polls Showing Leads in Utah, Maryland
The House Majority PAC, a Democratic super PAC, released two polls this morning that indicate Democrats are well-positioned in high-profile races in Utah and Maryland.
In the tossup race for Utah’s 4th, 51 percent of respondents said they would vote for Rep. Jim Matheson (D), while 33 percent supported Mia Love (R). In the Maryland 6th district survey, businessman John Delaney (D) had the support of 44 percent of those polled, while 42 percent said they would vote for Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (R). The difference is within the poll’s margin of error.
Utah’s Matheson has won six terms in a tough district, but an unfavorable redistricting process led the Congressman to run in a Republican-leaning seat that is largely new to him.
Love avoided a costly Republican primary by winning the nomination at the April state convention, despite a crowded field. That put the race in the national spotlight, as Love could become the first Republican black woman in Congress.
The poll declared Love as having “a low personal popularity rating” but did not provide information on Matheson’s unfavorable ratings. Thirty-one percent of voters viewed Love favorably, while 14 percent did not have favorable impressions of her. Sixty-five percent of those who responded had favorable views of Matheson and 21 percent had unfavorable views of him.
Jeff Pollock and Joe Hickerson of Global Strategy Group conducted the poll July 26-29. It was a live telephone survey of 400 “randomly selected likely voters” in the district. Matheson was up over Love in late June as well.
In Maryland, Republicans have begun to question if re-election is in the cards for Bartlett. So this new poll has to be something of a positive development. Soon after the April 3 primary, Delaney’s team conducted an internal poll that showed Delaney was up by 9 points.
Bartlett’s district was dismantled and redrawn to include liberal parts of the Washington, D.C., suburbs.
Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research conducted the poll July 23-25. The sample included “400 registered and likely November 2012 voters” and had a margin of error of 4.9 points.
Neither poll included name identification polling information.
Kyle Trygstad contributed to this post.