{"id":28869,"date":"2011-04-28T23:58:39","date_gmt":"2011-04-29T05:58:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=28869"},"modified":"2011-10-10T08:36:37","modified_gmt":"2011-10-10T14:36:37","slug":"wilson-leads-big-in-gop-senate-primary-poll-finds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2011\/04\/wilson-leads-big-in-gop-senate-primary-poll-finds\/","title":{"rendered":"Wilson leads big in GOP Senate primary, poll finds"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

U.S. Senate candidate Heather Wilson (Photo by Heath Haussamen)<\/p><\/div>\n

Wilson had the support of 59 percent of those surveyed to John Sanchez\u2019s 17 percent and Greg Sowards\u2019 2 percent<\/h4>\n

Heather Wilson<\/a> has a commanding lead over other declared and likely candidates for the GOP nomination for New Mexico\u2019s open U.S. Senate seat, according to a new, independent poll.<\/p>\n

Wilson led her closest opponent in the poll by 42 points. She had the support of 59 percent of those surveyed to John Sanchez\u2019s<\/a> 17 percent and Greg Sowards\u2019<\/a> 2 percent. Some 11 percent of those surveyed said they preferred another candidate, and another 11 percent were undecided. From the survey:<\/p>\n

\u201cHeather Wilson\u2019s support also demonstrates strong intensity, with 37% responding as \u2018definitely voting for her,\u2019 compared to 9% definitely voting for John Sanchez.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Like Wilson, Sowards has formally entered the race. Sanchez has not, but he says he\u2019s seriously considering it. Many sources expect him to run.<\/p>\n

The poll was conducted by the GOP firm Magellan Data and Mapping Strategies<\/a>. It surveyed 801 likely GOP 2012 primary voters on Tuesday and Wednesday, and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.46 percent.<\/p>\n

The poll didn\u2019t include little-known William S. English<\/a>, who has also entered the race.<\/p>\n

The polling company said it \u201cdoes not have a business relationship with any candidate or group interested in the 2012 New Mexico U.S. Senate Republican primary\u201d and it paid for the survey with its own resources.<\/p>\n

Read the poll memo here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Remarkable support for Wilson<\/h3>\n

Though it\u2019s still very early in the race \u2013 the primary is 13 months away \u2013 the survey is rather remarkable for Wilson, who narrowly lost a divisive GOP U.S. Senate primary to Steve Pearce<\/a> in 2008.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Some 84 percent of those surveyed said they have a favorable opinion of Wilson, which includes 55 percent who have a very favorable opinion of her. Only 12 percent said they view her unfavorably. Wilson\u2019s name recognition was 99 percent among those surveyed.<\/p>\n

Wilson had huge leads in every congressional district, among men and women, and among seniors, who the polling memo states historically make up 39 percent of the Republican primary vote.<\/p>\n

Notably absent from the Senate poll was Pearce, who hasn\u2019t ruled out a Senate run but who most sources consider unlikely to get into the race. The survey did test Pearce\u2019s approval rating and found it to be lower than Wilson\u2019s, but still high. Some 77 percent said they view him favorably, including 45 percent who viewed him very favorably. Some 17 percent said they view him unfavorably.<\/p>\n

Like Wilson, Pearce\u2019s name recognition was 99 percent.<\/p>\n

Sanchez was viewed favorably by 58 percent of those surveyed, including 22 percent who said they view him very favorably. Some 13 percent had an unfavorable opinion. His name was recognized by 88 percent.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne problem for a potential Sanchez candidacy is that although he is well known by primary voters, it is not translating into ballot support,\u201d the poll memo states. \u201cAmong 460 respondents that have a favorable opinion of John Sanchez, 55% would vote for Heather Wilson and 27% would vote for John Sanchez.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some 41 percent of those surveyed had never heard of Sowards, who isn\u2019t well known outside the 2nd Congressional District \u2013 a U.S. House seat he has twice sought. Some 21 percent of those surveyed said they view Sowards favorably, and 15 percent said they view him unfavorably.<\/p>\n

For Sowards, an active tea party member who ended the last reporting period with more than $150,000 in the bank, the lack of name recognition could be an opportunity to craft his own image \u2013 an opportunity Sanchez may not have.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Susana Martinez<\/p><\/div>\n

Martinez is even more popular than Wilson<\/h3>\n

The poll found an even greater level of support among GOP primary voters for Republican Gov. Susana Martinez<\/a> than Wilson. Some 93 percent of those surveyed said they have a favorable opinion of Martinez, with \u201ca remarkable\u201d 75 percent having a very favorable opinion.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe intensity of her favorability rating exceeds Heather Wilson\u2019s by 20 points and John Sanchez by 53 points,\u201d the poll memo states. \u201cAn endorsement from Governor Martinez in the U.S. Senate Republican primary would clearly carry some weight for any candidate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thus far, Martinez has given no indication that she plans to endorse.<\/p>\n

Update, 10:15 a.m.<\/h3>\n

Sowards\u2019 campaign put out a news release calling the poll results good news for him and going on the offensive. His statement:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe robo-poll shows that a significant majority of primary voters (63%) have yet to definitely commit to former Congresswomen Wilson, while only 9% are ready to commit to Lt. Governor Sanchez who just recently got elected.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe overall lack of support for Wilson and Sanchez reflects what we are hearing on the campaign trail.\u00a0Republicans believe both Wilson and Sanchez to be cut from the same liberal ideology.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWilson has a liberal record of voting for unsustainable government spending, like the\u00a0Wall Street\u00a0bailout while she was in Washington, D.C. Sanchez shares Wilson\u2019s penchant for liberal\u00a0Republicanism.\u00a0One look at Sanchez\u2019s record shows that he was supportive of the unions while in the state legislature, voting 60% of the time to support legislation than benefited a union.\u00a0Sanchez was also guilty of hiring illegal immigrants for his business, forcing the INS to investigate on more than one occasion.<\/p>\n

\u201cRepublicans in this state are conservative. I am the only truly conservative candidate in this race.\u00a0\u2026 I\u2019m the only conservative that can win the primary and go on to win the\u00a0general election.\u00a0This robo-poll shows that a majority of voters are looking for someone other than Wilson and Sanchez.\u00a0I am that candidate.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This article has also been updated for clarity.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UPDATED: Heather Wilson has a commanding lead over other declared and likely candidates for the GOP nomination for New Mexico\u2019s open U.S. Senate seat, according to a new, independent poll.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[156,219,107,116],"class_list":["post-28869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-2012-election","tag-2nd-congressional-district","tag-roundhouse","tag-washington"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28869"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28869\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}