Reynolds leads all Democratic challengers in 2018 race for governor but... [View all]
The new Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll suggests two of those would-be challengers — state Sen. Nate Boulton and retired businessman Fred Hubbell — are more competitive with Reynolds than other Democrats in the race, but also indicates a high level of uncertainty and lingering unfamiliarity with the wide field of challengers.
In a Reynolds-Boulton matchup, 41 percent of likely 2018 voters say they’d vote for Reynolds, compared to 37 percent for Boulton — a 4 percentage-point advantage. In a Reynolds-Hubbell matchup, 42 percent would opt for the incumbent while 37 percent would back the Democrat, a 5-point edge.
In each hypothetical matchup, 22 percent of voters say they’d choose someone else, wouldn’t vote or simply weren’t yet sure whom to choose.
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That said, Reynolds doesn’t garner more than 44 percent of the vote in any of the five matchups — a figure that underperforms both her 49 percent favorability rating and 47 percent job-approval rating among likely 2018 voters.
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https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/politics/iowa-poll/2018/02/07/iowa-poll-kim-reynolds-leads-all-democratic-challengers-2018-race-governor/308397002/