Poll: GOP Rep. Mia Love leads Democrat Doug Owens by 13 points

Poll: GOP Rep. Mia Love leads Democrat Doug Owens by 13 points

(Stacie Scott, Deseret News, File)


2 photos
Save Story
Leer en español

Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

SALT LAKE CITY — A new poll has Rep. Mia Love, R-Utah, 13 points ahead of her Democratic challenger, Doug Owens, in a closely watched rematch that has been labeled a toss-up.

"We feel very comfortable with that. It's a different race because she's the incumbent this time," Love's campaign manager, Dave Hansen, said. "Voters are responding positively to what she is doing."

Owens' campaign spokesman, Taylor Morgan, had no comment on the results.

The UtahPolicy.com poll by Dan Jones & Associates found that Love has the support of 51 percent of likely Utah voters, and Owens has 38 percent. The Constitution Party candidate, Collin Simonsen, was backed by 4 percent of respondents.

The poll was conducted July 18-Aug. 8 of 405 likely voters in the 4th District that includes the western portions of Salt Lake and Utah counties. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.87 percent.

Chris Karpowitz, co-director of BYU's Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy, said time is already running out for Owens to be competitive in an election year dominated by the presidential race.

"It's getting late in the game. We're now headed into the general election season in earnest. This is the time he needs to make his case. The challenge is the presidential election is taking up so much attention," Karpowitz said.

Neither Love nor Owens faced competition for their party's nomination and both are expected to raise the profile of their campaigns soon, including by airing television commercials.

And both candidates have kept their distance from their party's less-than-popular presidential picks, Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton, staying away from the national conventions and, so far, not endorsing.

Hansen said he doesn't see Trump as a problem for Love. He said she's still looking at a possible endorsement of Trump because "first and foremost, she certainly does not want Hillary Clinton in any way, shape or form."

Related:

There's already been plenty of interest in this year's race between Love, the first black Republican woman elected to the House, and Owens, the son of late Democratic congressman from Utah, Wayne Owens.

Doug Owens narrowly lost to Love in 2014, coming within 5 percentage points. Love had run and lost in 2012 against the last Democrat in Congress from Utah, Jim Matheson. Matheson, who served seven terms, did not seek re-election in 2014.

Karpowitz said Owens can't "just rely on the fact it was close the last time around" now that he's running against an incumbent because there's a "danger the race will just settle in to what it seems to be," with Love having all the advantages.

That's not the way the race had been viewed. In March, the national Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee sent out an operative to set up a field operation for Owens worth $1.5 million, more than twice what Owens spent in 2014.

He has raised more money this cycle, but had less cash on hand than Love as of the last federal financial disclosure at the end of June, just under $890,000 compared with Love's nearly $1.5 million.

Earlier this summer, two national nonpartisan political ratings entities, Cook Political Report and Saboto's Crystal Ball, declared the race a toss-up despite the predominance of Republicans in the district.

But pollster Dan Jones told UtahPolicy.com that Love's lead comes from Republicans and Democrats, and said Owens will need to do better with both groups to win in November.

"It is very difficult for a Democrat to win in the 4th Congressional District without strong support from independent voters," Jones said. "Mia Love currently leads among that voting bloc, so Doug Owens needs to convince the independent voters to support him if he wants to close the gap."

Photos

Related stories

Most recent Utah stories

Related topics

UtahPolitics
Lisa Riley Roche

    STAY IN THE KNOW

    Get informative articles and interesting stories delivered to your inbox weekly. Subscribe to the KSL.com Trending 5.
    By subscribing, you acknowledge and agree to KSL.com's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

    KSL Weather Forecast