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HI-Gov: Abercrombie Leads Hannemann by 5; Dems Lead Aiona by Double Digits

by: James L.

Wed Aug 25, 2010 at 8:10 PM EDT


Ward Research for the Honolulu Star-Advertiser/Hawaii News Now (8/10-17, likely voters, 4/23-28 in parens):

Neil Abercrombie (D): 49 (36)
Mufi Hannemann (D): 44 (32)
Undecided: 8 (21)
(MoE: ±4.8%)

General election numbers:

Neil Abercrombie (D): 53 (49)
Duke Aiona (R): 41 (35)
Undecided: 6 (16)

Mufi Hannemann (D): 54 (48)
Duke Aiona (R): 37 (35)
Undecided: 9 (17)
(MoE: ±4.0%)

This one's been sitting on our shelf for a couple of days, so now's a good time to clear the decks before it starts to collect dust. Note that Ward Research has shifted away from their unusual approach in sampling that they deployed back in May and gone for a more conventional sample.

Favorable ratings for all three of these guys are pretty even: Aiona's at 57-31, Abercrombie's at 57-36, and Hannemann's at 55-38. In the general election, both Democrats lose independents to Aiona by varying degrees (Abercrombie by 41-49 and Hannemann by 32-52) and aren't holding onto Democrats very strongly (Hannemann leads among Dems by 72-21 and Abercrombie leads by 71-24). The problem remains, though, that there are just way more Democrats than Republicans in Hawaii. Aiona has a shot, but he'll probably need the Democratic primary to get a bit nastier first.

James L. :: HI-Gov: Abercrombie Leads Hannemann by 5; Dems Lead Aiona by Double Digits
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I think you mean
Abercrombie, not case in the 2nd line of the 2nd paragraph. Is Aiona socially moderate or conservative? I wonder if he could peel off socially liberal independents and Dems against Hanneman?  

He is socially conservative
he doesn't even support civil unions, which is a compromise, and Hawaii is no red state.

I'm kind of confused: Hannemann does much worse with indies but is leading by a larger margin overall?

21, dude, RI-01 (registered) IL-01 (college)
please help Japan. click "donate funds" in upper right and then "Japan Earthquake and Pacific Tsunami." http://www.redcross.org/


[ Parent ]
Does
HI have a social conservative block, because Hannemann is against civil unions too, which I find odd for a Dem in HI. There is also Ed Case.  

[ Parent ]
Case and Abercrombie both support
full marriage equality. I agree that it is pretty weird. Hawaii voted by a large margin back in the 90s to amend the state constitution to allow the legislature to ban gay marriage, but this was a while ago and it was backlash to a judge's ruling allowing gay marriage, so things are probably different now. I would love to hear a local's insight.

21, dude, RI-01 (registered) IL-01 (college)
please help Japan. click "donate funds" in upper right and then "Japan Earthquake and Pacific Tsunami." http://www.redcross.org/


[ Parent ]
Public opinion on gay marriage hasn't moved as much as some liberals think......
No question we're on an inevitable road to marriage equality, the generational contrast in public opinion is very sharp.

But we're just not as far along as some think.  So many people seem to forget that Howard Dean had a tough reelection after approving FREAKIN' CIVIL UNIONS in LEFT-WING VERMONT.  And only political infighting prevented Massachusetts from overturning the state judicial ruling that required the state to recognize gay marriage.  What happened contemporaneously in Hawaii was consistent with these battles, not weird at all compared to what public opinion was at that time.

Too many people are desensitized to how shocking a turn public opinion has really made.  That a state like my native Iowa recognizes it contributes to that desensitization.  But it just doesn't happen very often that people move so fast on a controversial issue.  And much of it is simply that many millions of old people have died over the past 10-15 years, and many millions more than that on the young end of the voting spectrum have joined the electorate.  So now gays in the military is inevitable in the near future; "civil unions" and "domestic partnership" make most people shrug; and gay marriage is growing in acceptance as an idea.  But "growing" still doesn't mean "has arrived."  Most Americans still oppose gay marriage, and even in the most liberal states the support is not so one-sided.  Even in Iowa, public opinion remains opposed, but the bad economy is actually helping us in a twisted way by making most voters apathetic about gay marriage in light of so much going on that affects them much more personally.

I don't know if things will keep moving as fast as they have; I sure hope so.  But no one should be surprised if civil unions still require some heavy lifting in a state like Hawaii.

43, male, Indian-American, Democrat, VA-10


[ Parent ]
Maine almost
approved full gay marriage. And this is Maine. It's a fairly secular and liberal state, but not the most out there. Same for California. Polling in my home state of RI (commissioned by a pro-equality group, in all fairness) shows something like 60% support for full equality. This is why I find it absurd that my temporary adopted home state of Illinois can't pass civil unions.

As for your assertion that public opinion hasn't moved as much as some people think, I'd say that is a difficult question. Arizona and California have both voted twice but neither is an apples-to-apples comparison. California's second vote banned gay marriage while its first vote enshrined an already-existent ban. Arizona's 2006 ballot initiative was much more restrictive than its 2008 ballot initiative.

Nevertheless, it's fair to say that something like 48% of Californians and 47% of Mainers support full equality. Is Hawaii different enough that a majority oppose civil unions? It just seems weird. I did not know Hannemann was Mormon, that does shed some light on his social conservatism. but Hawaii overall seems to be in line with other blue states from what I can tell.

21, dude, RI-01 (registered) IL-01 (college)
please help Japan. click "donate funds" in upper right and then "Japan Earthquake and Pacific Tsunami." http://www.redcross.org/


[ Parent ]
I think opinion polls
on gay marriage are inaccurate. Some people seem not to want to admit to a pollster that they are prejudiced, but will vote that way in the privacy of a voting booth. I think that we should accept only actual election results as indications of the strength of support for marriage equality.

"I'm not a member of any organized political party, I'm a Democrat!"
--  Will Rogers  


[ Parent ]
Yes, but Maine was a special election
low-turnout dominated by elderly folks. I guarantee if that was on the ballot in 2008 or this November, it would have passed.  

[ Parent ]
I will grant that
turnout there was lower than in presidential years, but it was also higher than originally expected. You may be right, but I'm not sure if the jump from 50-something% to 70-something% would be enough to make up a 6-point gap.

21, dude, RI-01 (registered) IL-01 (college)
please help Japan. click "donate funds" in upper right and then "Japan Earthquake and Pacific Tsunami." http://www.redcross.org/


[ Parent ]
It hasn't passed anywhere
Why would it pass in Maine?

[ Parent ]
I agree with you on Hawaii and civil unions, and my point on Hawaii was not public opinion today...
My point was that Hawaii's rejection of gay marriage in the 90s was not surprising, and that nationally public opinion hasn't moved as much as people think, so that gay marriage might or might not survive a referendum in Hawaii today.  But if it still failed, it wouldn't be so shocking.  It would be close either way.

I think we're still a decade away from gay marriage really breaking through in public approval.

43, male, Indian-American, Democrat, VA-10


[ Parent ]
Hawaii seems like an odd place
for a so-con crowd; minimal presence of the religious right (only about 30% of the population even identify as Christian, a majority are unaffiliated).

[ Parent ]
There are the Mormans on Oahu
BYU-Hawaii (anyone else been to the Polynesian Cultural Center?)

I don't think they're a big part of the population, but I do remember seeing a lot of Huckabee signs when I visited Oahu back in late '07.


[ Parent ]
Hannemann is a Mormon


24, male, African-American, CA-24, Democrat. Chair of the SSP Black Caucus.

[ Parent ]
Maybe Not a Big Part of the Population As a Whole
And I'll readily admit to not spending a lot of time in Hawaii, and all of my time there was on Oahu - but my impression was that there was a sizable social conservative minority. Not huge by any means, but since there weren't a lot of Republicans to start with, the anti-abortion crowd and such seemed quite prominent among relatively small right-wing of the state.

[ Parent ]
Polls
Reminding, noticing new polls, Ipsos: Buck +9, SurveyUSA: Herrera +13 in WA-3, Internal GOP Poll, Hinchey only leads 44-37 in NY-22, GOP leads by 2 on generic ballot in D+6 district, big turnaround from previous internal.

WA-3
Contrary with the WA-SEN SurveyUSA poll, this poll reflects the primary results of D vs. R.

[ Parent ]
Yeah and that's why no one trusted the WA-Sen poll SUSA Poll
Because it  reflects the primary results of D vs. R. Nothing to see here and I don't trust internal polls so the poll in NY is probally bunk as well.

22, Male, Democrat, PA-18.

[ Parent ]
WASEN
The WA-SEN poll was 6 pts more GOP than primary, this only +1 which seems reasonable. Herrera is definitely the frontrunner, Rothenberg moved the race to tilt R

[ Parent ]
What has any of that
Got to do with HI-Gov?

[ Parent ]
It has nothing to do with the HI-Gov race
Nothing at all. Just a guy fronting bad polls.

22, Male, Democrat, PA-18.

[ Parent ]
Oh wow Rothenberg put this as tilt R
The man who's very sympatethed to the GOP in his rankings. It musts be true!! But seriously Herrera is not based as the frontrunner just because of the primary. Most Dems didn't show up because there was no contested primary for Heck, the same can't be said about Herrera. That and the WA-Sen poll is wrong because they get their numbers from the primary plus for the most part SUSA numbers have been very out of whack this year.. Sorry but your wrong on this. Plus why do you come on here and believe a GOP internal poll in NY. You should take all internals with a HUGE grain of salt.

22, Male, Democrat, PA-18.

[ Parent ]
No you shouldn't.
It depends on the poll.

28, Liberal Democrat, CA-26

[ Parent ]
NY-22
GOP internal. It must be true!

[ Parent ]
Yeah, I can see this guy winning a D+6 district
[ Parent ]
Thanks for this
But please, we ask that you keep offtopic comments restricted to our open threads (ie. Weekly Open Threads and Daily Digests).

[ Parent ]
Thanks for clearing that up for him
But I wouldn't put much stock in those polls when you write up the digest James.

22, Male, Democrat, PA-18.

[ Parent ]
Anyone else
find these internals bizarre? for instance Abercrombie wins 56% from each income group and for the topline that comes out to...53%. uh, what. I know crosstabs are untrustworthy blah blah blah but don't they at least have to make mathematical sense?

21, dude, RI-01 (registered) IL-01 (college)
please help Japan. click "donate funds" in upper right and then "Japan Earthquake and Pacific Tsunami." http://www.redcross.org/


It is odd, but this seems to happen rather often
Case in point, the CBS News exit poll on the '76 presidential race, which projected Carter to win 50% overall...and 52% of both the male and female votes.  

For daily political commentary, visit me at http://polibeast.blogspot.com/ and http://twitter.com/polibeast

[ Parent ]
Some people refused to answer household income
Add up his supporters in all the income groups. It doesn't add up to his supporters total. You get 296 vs. 322.

From people who refused to answer it was 26-39 against him.

You might be interested in: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S...


[ Parent ]
To his point though
It seems odd they didn't put those who didn't apply to the given choices in a grouping called "N/A" or "Other".  It also looks like 2 people didn't answer the gender question, not sure why that would be optional.

I did notice, if I read the small pring correctly, that the sum of voters from Oahu + voters fro N.I was 323 even though the sample was 322...or is my arithmetic wrong?


[ Parent ]

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