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SALT LAKE CITY -- Gov. Herbert has a healthy lead over Democrat Peter Corroon in a new Dan Jones poll for KSL and the Deseret News; but the Corroon-for-Governor campaign sees a silver lining in those results.
The results show Gov. Herbert leading Corroon 45 to 25 percent right now. Other candidates--Richard Martin, Andrew McCullough, Daniel Van Oaks, and Dell Schanze--gathered 2 percent or less of the 406 registered voters. Twenty-two percent are undecided.
Despite showing up behind, Corroon's campaign sees opportunity with undecided voters. They're also claiming Herbert's support is low for an incumbent.
Donald Dunn, Corroon's campaign manager, said, "He's not where his predecessors were at this point in the game, with Gov. Huntsman and Gov. Leavitt being in the high 70s. The fact that he's under 50 percent shows that it's a horse race."
In a statement, Joe Demma, of Gov. Herbert's campaign, said he is encouraged by the poll.
"It's a strong statement that voters are in favor of the direction (Herbert is) taking the state," he said.
Details of the survey show both Herbert and Corroon have a lot of work to. Herbert is strong in conservative Davis and Utah Counties. Corroon has support in Salt Lake County, a lead Dan Jones says he can't lose.
"He has to win it, and he has to win it big. It's the most important one of all of them," Jones said.
The two tie in Weber County.
The poll also looked at favorable ratings; Herbert leads there, too, 59 to 39 percent. Both candidates have comparable unfavorable ratings.
Both campaigns say they're very interested in these numbers right now, but only up to a certain point. It's very early in the race, and neither side is taking anything for granted. Chances are good the race for Governor will be one to watch this year.
The election will allow the winner to finish serving the remaining two years of Gov. Huntsman's term.
E-mail: rpiatt@ksl.com