SALT LAKE CITY — A new poll released this week shows former President Donald Trump, Governor Spencer Cox and Congressman John Curtis leading in their respective races.
But for Trump and Cox, it is not by margins Republicans have typically seen in Utah in the past. The poll was conducted by Arizona-based Noble Predictive Insights.
For Trump, he is still not doing as well as other Republicans have done in the past in reliably red state Utah. Noble's poll finds him winning Utah with 54% of the vote while Vice-President Kamala Harris garners 34% of the vote.
"Republicans previously or historically have performed better in Utah," pollster Mike Noble told FOX 13 News. "And it's mainly because you have a portion of Republicans, roughly 18% saying they're voting for Harris and he's losing independents."
When it comes to Latter-day Saint voters, 66% are voting for Trump while 22% are for Harris, Noble said.
"But when you look at, let's say, other Christians, they back Harris at 30% and then Trump at 60%," he said. "So he’s actually doing a little bit better."
In the Utah governor's race, Cox has dropped a little since Noble previous survey earlier this month, from 49% to 43%. Meanwhile, Democratic candidate Brian King jumped from 23% to 26% and write-in candidate Phil Lyman jumped from 5% to 15%.
"What the real shock or interesting thing is write-in candidate Phil Lyman, especially because a write-in candidate shouldn’t be on there," Noble said.
In an interview with FOX 13 News on Thursday, Lyman said he was glad to see it.
"We know that a write-in campaign is a heavy lift," he said. "And so anything that we're getting above really 7-8% is doing well. So at 15% we're very pleased with it."
Lyman, who won the Republican party nomination at the Utah GOP convention earlier this year, lost the primary election to Cox who gathered signatures to earn a spot on the Republican primary ballot. Since then, Lyman has launched legal challenges and currently has a petition to the U.S. Supreme Court contesting Cox's candidate eligibility. He told FOX 13 News he expected legal challenges to continue past Election Day.
As for what he's been trying to do to earn voters' support, Lyman said he would focus on social media.
"I mean, social media to me is where it's at," he said. "No offense, but the mainstream media seems to want to bury anything that we have to say. Social media, we get the word out."
King has been knocking doors. On Wednesday night, FOX 13 News followed him as he handed out campaign pamphlets in a West Valley City neighborhood.
"Talking to people making sure we get the word out about who we are and what we stand for," he said.
Asked about the latest Noble poll results, King was optimistic.
"We’ve worked hard in this campaign. We’ve tried to make sure we got the word out about our values and our priorities that there’s a good alternative to one party control with state government right now. So it’s encouraging," he said.
Gov. Cox has also been holding frequent campaign events with supporters and billboards touting his record in office. Asked by FOX 13 News earlier this week how he was feeling about the election, the governor said: "Feeling great! Yeah, looking forward, we’ll all be glad when this one’s over. But definitely optimistic and looking forward to good news."
The U.S. Senate race for the open seat being vacated by retiring Sen. Mitt Romney, the Noble poll found Congressman John Curtis doing better against his Democratic challenger than even Trump is.
"Curtis outperformed the top of the ticket, Trump," Noble said. "Trump's only up by 20. However, Curtis... is up by 28 points. And I think what's interesting about Curtis is that in many ways he's a compromise between the MAGA and Trump skeptical wings and he's less resistant to Trump than someone like outgoing Sen. Mitt Romney and not quite as fully on board as Sen. Mike Lee."
