New internal poll gives Womack big lead over Bledsoe
by May 24, 2010 8:01 pm 55 views
The campaign of Rogers Mayor Steve Womack released results of an internal poll late Monday (May 24) showing Womack with a 29-point lead over Sen. Cecile Bledsoe in the 3rd Congressional District GOP runoff.
A poll from Wilson Research Strategies shows 53% voter support for Womack, 24% for Bledsoe and 23% undecided.
WRS contacted by phone 400 likely GOP Primary election voters in Arkansas 3rd District. The poll was conducted May 19-20. The margin of error is equal to +4.9% in 95 out of 100 cases.
The poll also showed that nine in 10 (92%) of likely GOP primary voters have
heard of Steve Womack, up from four in five (81%) in early April. Also, more than six in 10 (62%) view him favorably, up from 53% in April, while only 11% view him unfavorably.
More importantly, the poll shows Womack with a commanding lead in the Republican stronghold of Benton County. There he has a 53% to 28% lead over Bledsoe.
“Steve Womack leads by a large margin in the upcoming GOP primary runoff election in the 3rd district. He leads among all major subgroups, in all parts of the district. He is in good shape to win the runoff on June 8th,” noted the WRS document explaining the poll results.
Keith Emis, a consultant to the Bledsoe campaign, said the poll results do not reflect Bledsoe’s momentum in recent days, included endorsements from three other candidates (Gunner DeLay, Steve Lowry and Doug Matayo) in the GOP 3rd District primary.
“Steve Womack wants to create the impression that he’s unbeatable. The truth is somewhat different. Cecile Bledsoe has steadily been gaining the support of her former competitors and she’s had much better media coverage since the end of the Primary,” Emis said in an e-mail to The City Wire. “Cecile has a conservative coalition building around her and she’s in great shape. Womack knows that the right wing of the Republican Party rejects what he’s had to say on tax increases, citizenship for illegal aliens and refusing to fight to overturn Obama’s healthcare plan. The momentum is with Cecile.”
Emis also said the WRS poll was “wildly inaccurate.”
However, a WRS poll the Womack campaign released April 7 — almost 6 weeks before the May 19 primary — was remarkably accurate. It showed Womack with 31% of the primary vote, and Bledsoe gaining 12%. The election results gave Womack 31.2% and Bledsoe 13.3%.