With less than four weeks to go before the June primary election, we asked our political insiders and readers whether they thought the debate over debates in the U.S. Senate race between Orrin Hatch and Dan Liljenquist would affect their race, and whether Liljenquist is getting some traction from the issue.
| What impact would more debates between Orrin Hatch and Dan Liljenquist have on their primary race? | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Republican insiders | Democratic insiders | UtahPolicy.com readers | |
| Help Hatch | 5% | 9% | 8% |
| Help Liljenquist | 55% | 52% | 58% |
| Hurt Hatch | 19% | 20% | 21% |
| Hurt Liljenquist | 1% | 0% | 0% |
| No impact | 18% | 15% | 6% |
| Don't know | 2% | 4% | 7% |
Some anonymous comments:
"Complain is all Liljenquist has done. Come on if you want the job say what you would do."
"More debates would help Liljenquist but not enough for him to win the nomination."
"Debates only help the challenger."
"Dan's just looking for free press and name recognition. There's not ten or 15 points worth of votes to be found in debates."
"I really don't care which candidate would be helped or hindered: the point of debates is to help citizens make an informed decision. Hatch's refusal to have more debates is more 'politics as usual.'"
"Much ado about nothing!"
"Hatch owes it to the voters to debate the issues."
"I believe debates will both help Liljenquist and Hurt Hatch. I believe Hatch's strongest chance for re-electon is his name recognition coupled with his hope to avoid rocking the boat."
"Unless there is a major, MAJOR gaffe the debates won't bee seen by enough people to really make a difference."
"How does one predict who will make a stupid statement or come off looking unprepared or sweating profusely or having a 5 o'clock shadow? Obviously, Liljenquist thinks more debates will help help to either show contrast on the issues, or to publicly call Hatch out on some prior votes, or to show Hatch's relative age. Whether any of this would ultimately benefit Liljenquist is open to conjecture."
"I'm not sure which candidate would benefit from more debates. But I do know that the people would be be the main beneficiaries, and that's what it's really about. The people are the ones who benefit from seeing the candidates explain their views side by side."
"It would look like the Nixon vs. Kennedy debate."
| Do you think Liljenquist is getting some traction with voters from the debate issue? | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Republican insiders | Democratic insiders | UtahPolicy.com readers | |
| Yes, Hatch will agree to more debates | 1% | 0% | 3% |
| Yes, Liljenquist is winning support of more voters | 24% | 18% | 65% |
| A little, but it won't be enough to make a difference in the election | 54% | 51% | 21% |
| No, Hatch is cruising to a win | 20% | 29% | 7% |
| Don't know | 1% | 2% | 4% |
Some anonymous comments:
"The debate on debates is a pair of roller skates, not a Ferrari."
"Hatch will never cave to the debate debate. Liljenquist is smart to have his campaign supporters keep the spotlight on the debates, but he has to focus on getting in front of voters at this point. There should be another question on whether he is picking up ground despite the lack of debates."
"I don't think the Republican voters care too much about this issue. Seems to show that Dan has little to go after the Senator."
"When KSL/DesNews has offered everything short of holding a televised debate in Hatch's living room, his excuses for not debating are becoming increasingly absurd. It also doesn't help that Hatch shows up in Utah for press events with another Senate buddy every week"
"I can't believe you guys are asking this debate question again. Isn't this about the third time you have done your poll on this. Most people could care less about this issue, the media is just trying to make it bigger than it really is."
"The issue hurt Hatch as much as a bee stinging an elephant. It may sting slightly but the elephant just swats it away."
"The Liljenquist campaign has gotten quite a bit of traction from this issue. Alone it isn't enough to sway the election, but it has kept his name in the news."
"While the debate issue will rile strong political followers, it will not impact the majority of everyday voters."
"Hatch still has the name recognition. If he doesn't debate then he reduced his chances of saying something stupid -- and too many voters are lazy. They simply vote for the name."
"Ultimately, the election won't rise or fall on the number of debates. It will turn on the larger mass of Republican voters simply voting to keep Hatch in office."
"Hatch knows exactly what he is doing."
Respondents include -
Fred Adams, Stuart Adams, Jess Agraz, Scott Anderson, Laura Arellano, Patrice Arent, Bette Arial, Neil Ashdown, Bruce Baird, Tom Barberi, Heather Barney, Steve Barth, Jeff Bell, Tom Berggren, Mike Bertelsen, Ron Bigelow, Emily Bingham-Hollingshead, Rob Bishop, Laura Black, Nanci Bockelie, Charles Bradley, Jim Bradley, Ralph Brown, Ken Bullock, Chris Bleak, Curt Bramble, Joel Briscoe, Ralph Brown, Aaron Browning, Dave Buhler, Ken Bullock, Ric Cantrell, Maura Carabello, Marty Carpenter, Rebecca Chavez-Houck, Kay Christensen, David Clark, Kim Coleman, Peter Corroon, Tim Cosgrove, Fred Cox, Lew Cramer, Gene Davis, Richard Davis, Brad Daw, Alan Dayton, Margaret Dayton, Mike Deaver, Brad, Dee, Joseph Demma, Jake Dennis, Dan Deuel, Jeff Dixon, Brian Doughty, Carl Downing, Randy Dryer, Susan Duckworth, Donald Dunn, Alan Eastman, Becky Edwards, Scott Ericson, Chase Everton, Jessica Fawson, Janice Fisher, Wendy Fisher, Lorie Fowlke, Ronald Fox, Ryan Frandsen, Adam Gardiner, Jordan Garn, Ernie Gamonal, Luke Garrott, Dave Gessel, Natalie Gochnour, Robert Grow, Karen Hale, David Hansen, Neil Hansen, Joe Hatch, Jeff Hartley, Dan Hauser, Lynn Hemmingway, Deidre Henderson, Neal Hendrickson, Casey Hill, Lyle Hillyard, Kory Holdaway, Randy Horiuchi, Ben Horsley, Bruce Hough, Scott Howell, Greg Hughes, Miriam Hyde, Allison Isom, Casey Jackson, Eric Jergensen, Mike Jerman, Jonathan Johnson, Michael Jolley, Gordon Jones, Leslie Jones, Pat Jones, Kirk Jowers, Jeremy Keele, Brian King, Scott Konopasek, Steve Kroes, Chris Kyler, Carter Livingston, Fred Lampropoulos, Clark Larsen, Douglas Larson, David Litvack, Larry Lunt, Matt Lyon, Ben McAdams, Daniel McCay, Gayle McKeachnie, JT Martin, Maryann Martindale, Jason Mathis, Bob Mayhew, Karen Mayne, Bret Milburn, Derek Miller, Rob Miller, Ethan Millard, Brett Millburn, Karen Morgan, Jeffery Morton, Mike Mower, Holly Mullen, Wayne Niederhauser, Mike Noel, Randy O'Hara, Ralph Okerlund, James Olsen, Val Oveson, Kelly Patterson, John Pearce, Helen Peters, Karen Peterson, Frank Pignanelli, Becky Pirente, Marie Poulson, Jason Powers, Tami Pyfer, Joe Pyrah, Mike Reberg, Jill Remington Love, Lauren Richards, Holly Richardson, Robin Riggs, James Roberts, Luz Robles, Ross Romero, Carol Sapp, Don Savage, Bryan Schott, Shauna Scott-Bellaccomo, Jay Seegmiller, Jennifer Seelig, Patrick Shea, Randy Shumway, Soren Simonsen, Jeremy Slaughter, Brendan Smith, Brian Somers, Carol Spackman-Moss, Robert Spendlove, Barbara Stallone, Howard Stephenson, David Stringfellow, Mike Styler, Shinika Sykes, Juliette Tennert, Gary Thorup, Kevin Van Tassell, Royce Van Tassel, Doug Thompson, Michael Waddoups, Laura Warburton, Chuck Warren, Christine Watkins, LaVarr Webb, Todd Weiler, Alan West, Mark Wheatley, Larry Wiley, Ted Wilson, Carl Wimmer, Mike Winder, Travis Wood, Thomas Wright, Crystal Young-Otterstrom
Results from the UtahPolicy.com/KSL Insider poll can be heard on KSL Radio every Friday and read on Utah Policy.com every Monday.
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