Voters Don’t Know Mayoral Candidates

The Salt Lake mayoral race has two leading candidates, Jenny Wilson and Dave Buhler, but city voters are still barely getting acquainted with the candidates. An independent Dan Jones & Associates poll of 506 city registered voters conducted March 24-29 shows that in favorability ratings of candidates, most voters still have no opinion or have never heard of the candidates.

Wilson leads the favorability ratings (41% of voters view her favorably) with Buhler second at 34%. But 50% of respondents had no opinion or had never heard of Wilson, with 55% for Buhler. Some 59% had no opinion or had never heard of Keith Christensen, and a whopping 73% had no opinion or had never heard of Ralph Becker. Christensen had a 26% favorability rating and Becker 23%. Because the candidates are not well know, the unfavorable numbers are quite low, with Christensen at 16% unfavorable; Buhler 12%; Wilson, 9% and Becker 5%.

The candidates recognize that they aren’t well known at this point in the campaign, and efforts to raise visibility are now underway. Most candidates are putting up yard signs and/or billboards.

On crime, city voters feel very safe walking in their own neighborhoods and downtown during the day, but less so at night. Even walking downtown at night, more respondents feel safe than unsafe.

On a list of issues that voters volunteered they would want their mayor to address, crime/gangs came in fifth behind education/schools, transportation, downtown development and mayoral focus on city issues instead of other things. The poll has a possible error margin of plus/minus 4.5%.

Campaign Like a Pro

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Washington Watch

Hatch Introduces Water Bill

Sen. Orrin Hatch says of a bill he's introduced that would allow Juab County to complete water resource development projects with Central Utah Project funds: "As the crossroads of the West, Utah is experiencing some of the most rapid growth in the nation. And while the Beehive state has an abundance of natural resources, water is not among them. Juab County needs this bill for its water resource development projects" (see press release).

National Politics

Best Stories From . . .

-- RealClearPolitics: Columnist Peter Brown says the "informal agreement that partisan political differences within the United States did not extend to America's dealings with the rest of the world" has been shattered, as evidenced by Rep. Nancy Pelosi's trip to Syria. "Two decades ago, it would have been impossible to imagine House Speaker Tip O'Neill, every bit the Democratic partisan as is Pelosi today, meeting a foreign leader against Ronald Reagan's wishes. ... The war-limiting legislation and the Democratic trips underscores just how much things have changed. Although hope may spring eternal, it is unlikely we'll see Congress reverting to its historic role in foreign affairs any time soon."

-- Roll Call: Columnist Stuart Rothenberg asks: "[W]hy are Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) running for president? I'm not sure, except that McCain seemed to be next in line for the GOP nomination and Clinton is, well, Clinton. Actually, if you think about it, we've all seen the McCain and Clinton campaigns before. Each is an updated version of the '04 Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) campaign, when the candidate's message was his biography and résumé. ... McCain and Clinton seem to have spent more time building organizations rather than building rationales for their candidacies."

-- New York Magazine: Article looks at how Sen. Barack Obama has built a powerful fund-raising apparatus comprised of A-list New York donors like billionaire George Soros.

Today in Political History

April 17,  1492:  Queen Isabella I of Spain contracts to finance a voyage of discovery headed by Christopher Columbus, naming him admiral and viceroy of any discoveries. (The Encarta® 2000 New World Timeline © Copyright 1998, Helicon Publishing Ltd.)

April 17, 1989:  Students march on Beijing's Tiananmen Square to call for increased democracy in China.  (Source:  perspicuity) 

Wise Words

People come to Washington believing it's the center of power. I know I did. It was only much later that I learned that Washington is a steering wheel that's not connected to the engine.

-- Richard Goodwin (Source:  Quotes Exchange) 

Communications Tip

When it comes to delivering your campaign message to the voters, most candidates -- both novice AND experienced - make the same two mistakes…
 
1.  Confusing the difference between delivering a “pretty” message with a “persuasive” message, and…

2.  Using their local vendor or a “friend,” instead of an experienced POLITICAL professional. (Read the whole tip from Campaign Hot Tips)

Lighter Side

Yesterday’s Dilbert Cartoon in the Washington Post.