Posted on 11/01/2002 4:55:49 AM PST by BlackRazor
Romero Closing Gap on Wilson
By STEVE TERRELL | The New Mexican 11/01/2002
Incumbent Republican Congresswoman Heather Wilson is still ahead of Democrat challenger Richard Romero, but the gap is closing, according to a poll for The New Mexican and KOB-TV.
According to the latest poll conducted Monday and Tuesday by Mason Dixon Polling & Research Inc. in Washington, D.C., Wilson leads Romero, the president pro tem of the state Senate, by a margin of 48 to 40 percent.
In a previous Mason Dixon poll, conducted in late September, Wilson was beating Romero 50 percent to 38 percent.
In both polls, 12 percent of those questioned were undecided.
"Wilson's still ahead and probably still has the edge, but it's tightening up," said Brad Coker of Mason Dixon on Thursday.
"Heather Wilson has never cracked 50 percent in an election," Coker noted. "She was there earlier in this race, but she's slipped below it now."
In Wilson's previous races in 2000 and 1998, Green Party candidates were running for the seat as well as Democrats.
The bulk of the First Congressional District is in the city of Albuquerque.
The poll found that unfavorable ratings for both candidates have grown. Thirty-seven percent of those polled had an "unfavorable" opinion of Wilson in the new poll, compared with 25 percent in September.
Romero's unfavorable rating soared from 4 percent in September to 30 percent in the new poll.
The Wilson-Romero race has been marked by unrelenting negative ads.
Wilson's ads have accused Romero of skipping votes in the state Senate, taking junkets at taxpayer expense and being soft on crime.
Romero has accused Wilson of siding with large pharmaceutical companies in keeping prescription drug prices high, wanting to privatize Social Security and voting to give huge tax breaks to Enron.
A big problem for Romero is that Wilson is receiving the support of 17 percent of Democratic voters.
Romero made some enemies in his party last year when he led a successful Senate coup against the powerful and controversial Sen. Manny Aragon, D-Albuquerque, who had been president pro tem.
Romero might have rubbed salt in those wounds by running commercials boasting about overthrowing Aragon.
The poll of 309 randomly selected registered and likely voters was conducted over the telephone.
The margin of error was plus or minus 6 percent.
If you want on or off my poll ping list, let me know!
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