….from PPP……
Martinez, Udall lead for reelection
PPP’s first poll of the 2014 elections in New Mexico finds both Susana Martinez and Tom Udall leading by margins similar to what they won by when they were elected in the first place.
Martinez was elected Governor 53-47 in 2010, and we find her leading challenger Gary King 47-42. Martinez has a 52/40 approval rating, largely consistent with where we’ve found her since she took office. She overcomes the strong Democratic advantage in the state by winning independents almost 2:1 at 53/27, and getting 24% crossover support from Democrats.
Martinez has wider leads over all the rest of the Democrats in the race. It’s 11 points over Lawrence Rael at 47/36, 14 points over Howie Morales and Linda Lopez at 48/34 and 50/36 respectively, and 16 points over Alan Webber at 48/32.
King starts out as the pretty strong favorite to be the Democratic nominee though. He leads the primary field by over 20 points, getting 34% right now to 15% for Morales, 13% for Lopez, 7% for Rael, and 5% for Webber. The race isn’t over by any means- 27% of voters remain undecided- but it’s a pretty substantial early advantage.
Tom Udall was elected by 22 points in 2008, and he starts out with leads in the 20-22 point range against both of his potential GOP opponents for this fall….