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The Range: The Tucson Weekly's Daily Dispatch

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Sunday, October 1, 2006

CD 8 Poll: Giffords Leads Graf

Posted by Jim Nintzel on Sun, Oct 1, 2006 at 12:14 AM

The latest Tucson Weekly/Wick Communications Poll shows that Democrat Gabrielle Giffords has an 18-point lead over Republican Randy Graf.

The survey shows that 52 percent of voters surveyed supported Giffords, while just 34 percent supported Graf. Almost 10 percent of voters said they were undecided.

"I think the poll shows broad, bipartisan support across the district for Gabrielle Giffords," said Giffords campaign manager Rodd McLeod. "Ultimately, people are looking for someone who can reach across the party aisle and get things done. We've got a Congress that's just not effective."

Graf campaign manager R.T. Gregg said his candidate is still suffering from negative attacks during the GOP primary, but there's still plenty of time for Graf to bounce back.

"The only poll that matters is the one that voters cast," Gregg said. "We're not going to fall victim to being paralyzed by polls. We've got to get our message out."

While the size of Giffords' lead has varied in the polls that have been released to the public, Graf's support has remained in the mid-30s in each of them.

The survey found that Giffords was enjoying significant crossover support from Republicans. Only 62 percent of GOP voters said they would vote for Graf, while more than 85 percent of Democrats said they would support Giffords.

Libertarian candidate David Nolan had the support of 1.2 percent of surveyed voters, while independent candidate Jay Quick had 2 percent.

The Tucson Weekly/Wick Communications Poll, conducted by veteran pollster Margaret Kenski, surveyed 402 voters between Sept. 20 and Sept. 23. The margin of error is 4.3 percent.

More details can be found in the upcoming dead-plant-matter edition of the Tucson Weekly.