Bishop, Curtis enjoying massive leads in their re-election bids

Incumbent U.S. House members Rob Bishop and John Curtis are doing just fine this election, a new UtahPolicy.com poll shows.

Pollster Dan Jones & Associates finds that in his last race in the 1st Congressional District, long-time Republican Rep. Bishop gets 59 percent support with just over a month to go before Election Day.

And newcomer Rep. Curtis, also a Republican, has 65 percent support in his 3rd Congressional District.

This will be Curtis’ first full-term election; he won a special election a year ago after former Rep. Jason Chaffetz resigned his seat.

Bishop has said he plans on retiring in 2020, assuming he wins a 9th term in November.

Curtis, a former Provo mayor, won a hard-fought GOP nomination last summer and coasted to victory in the final special election in this very conservative district.

Of note: Bishop’s support shows a difference between 1st District men and women – likely due to Bishop being a long-time Republican House member in a very partisan Washington, D.C.

Other poll results show that many Utah women have trouble with GOP President Donald Trump, and don’t much like Republicans who strongly support him – as Bishop does.

Here are some of the numbers:

  • In his 1st District, Bishop leads Democratic challenger Lee Castillo, 59-22 percent.
  • Green Party candidate Adam Davis gets 3 percent of the vote; United Utah Party candidate Eric Eliason has 8 percent support, and 8 percent don’t know.

Castillo barely gets a Democratic candidate’s base and doesn’t appear to be able to threaten Bishop.

  • In his second 3rd District election in a year, Curtis leads his Democratic opponent, James Singer, 65-19 percent.
  • United Utah candidate Timothy Zeidner has only 2 percent support; Independent American Party candidate Gregory Duerden has 4 percent support, and 11 percent don’t know.

 

Curtis doesn’t see the significant difference in gender preference in his election – men favor him with 67 percent support compared to women’s 62 percent.

But in the 1st District, while 63 percent of men favor Bishop, only 54 percent of women do – perhaps showing the Trump effect there.

As previously reported, in the highly-contested 4th District, GOP Rep. Mia Love has trouble with women voters:

  • Men favor Love, 54-41 percent over Democrat Ben McAdams.
  • But women actually favor McAdams, 51-43 percent over Love.

Overall, Love leads McAdams, 49-46 percent.

Bishop and Curtis should have no problems in the Nov. 6 final election, the new Jones poll shows.

In the 1st District, Jones polled 201 adults from Aug. 22-31. That survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 6.9 percent.

In the 3rd District, Jones polled 188 adults over the same period. That sample has a margin of error of plus or minus 7.2 percent.