(Chuck Muth) – The results of a new statewide automated phone poll of likely Republican voters in the GOP primary race for the United States Senate conducted last week – after Sue Lowden began her TV commercials and before Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki dropped out of the race – shows Lowden beginning to pull away from the pack just a bit.
The three-question poll conducted by PMI, Inc. on Tuesday and Wednesday, February 9th and 10th, was NOT commissioned by the Nevada News Bureau, although my organization, Citizen Outreach Foundation, which provides funding for the news bureau, has used the company’s services in the past.
Due to confidentiality restraints, the company did not disclose the identity of its client for whom the poll was commissioned, so readers can make of that what they will. Still, PMI’s polling in Nevada has been reliable over the years and there’s no reason to believe the results in this instance are any different.
The first question asked: “If the Republican Primary Election were held today for whom would you vote: Sharron Angle, Sue Lowden, Brian Krolicki, Danny Tarkanian or do you prefer someone else?”
Lowden came out on top with 34% of the vote, followed by Danny Tarkanian (23%), Someone Else (19%), Brian Krolicki (14%) and Sharron Angle (10%).
When asked what they thought the “best qualification” for being chosen as the GOP nominee was, 48 percent said “being the best person to beat Harry Reid.” “Standing up to special interests” came in a distant second with 19 percent.
Respondents were also asked to choose the issue they found to be “most important” in the race.
39 percent said “Jobs and the economy.”
29 percent said “National debt and out-of-control spending”
15 percent said “National security/terrorism”
7 percent said “Protecting second amendment rights”
6 percent said “Education”
4 percent said “Other”
PMI conducted the survey from a statewide list of 85,000 likely GOP primary voters and estimates the margin of error in the survey to be plus/minus 5 percent.
