Uptick for Heck

Since the August primary, every poll made public has shown Republican state Rep. Jaime Herrera maintaining a lead — sometimes slim, sometimes substantial — over Denny Heck, her Democratic opponent in the hard-fought 3rd Congressional District race.

However, in the wake of a new SurveyUSA poll conducted for KING-TV in Seattle, the Heck campaign is now claiming steady upward movement for Heck and a decline in support for Herrera.

“As voters in the 3rd District continue to hear from both candidates, it’s clear that Denny Heck is the candidate with a plan to actually get this economy moving again, and get people back to work,” said Grant Lahmann, Heck’s campaign manager, in a statement.

The poll, which uses automated telephone calls to tally voters’ intentions, found that 50% said they would vote for Herrera, 46% would vote for Heck and 4 percent remained undecided. The margin of error in the poll of 640 likely voters is plus or minus 4 percent.

SurveyUSA pollster Jay Leve told KING-TV, “Democrats today are more likely than in three previous polls to identify themselves as certain voters, and the party breakdown of this poll reflects that. Heck has some traction among voters age 50 to 64, where he had trailed in August, September and early October, but now leads. Heck polls above 50% among women for the first time. And, Heck’s advantage among moderates has grown to 25 points. But, Herrera is still backed by 91% of those with a favorable impression of the Tea Party, 80% of pro-life voters, 56% of men and 55% of Independents.”

The last SurveyUSA poll in the race, conducted in mid-October, showed Herrera leading with 53 percent of the vote to 42 percent for Heck and 6 percent of voters undecided.

Kathie Durbin