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(Photo courtesy AP)
Richard Piatt reporting
Business leaders gave Gov. Jon Huntsman a standing ovation at yesterday's economic summit. It looks like voters feel the same way.
The results are not unanimous, but a new Dan Jones poll for KSL and the Deseret Morning News shows Huntsman is the very early clear leader in his re-election bid for governor.
Huntsman is riding high as governor. Utah's economy is relatively good, his relationship with the Legislature is solid, and he's a popular political figure.
A recent Dan Jones poll for KSL and the Deseret Morning News shows that Huntsman would get 77 percent of the vote if the election were today. Of the 601 people in the survey, the next favorite candidate was in the single digits; and 15 percent say they're undecided at this point in the race.
The Utah Democratic Party pick for governor this year is consultant Bob Springmeyer. He knows all too well that this run for office is going to be beyond tough. Beating Huntsman seems, right now, to be a long shot.
"I certainly can't outspend Jon Huntsman, so it's going to be out greeting people, meeting people, talking about issues," Springmeyer said.
A second look at the results reveals Democrat Matt Frandsen one point higher than Springmeyer right now.
Libertarian Dell Schanze, Democrat Monty Nafoosi and Republican Charles Smith are also long-shot underdogs in this race right now.
Dan Jones says Huntsman will be tough to beat. "I believe he has around a 72 percent, what we call 'naked re-elect.' I've never seen anyone with that high of a score on a naked re-elect loose an election," he said.
This poll is just a snapshot of where voters are as of this week.
We're also keeping track of what Utahns are thinking in the race for president. We will have those results tonight on Eyewitness News at 10, and you can read about other Utah races tomorrow in the Deseret Morning News.
E-mail: rpiatt@ksl.com
