SALT LAKE CITY -- A new poll shows Mayor Ralph Becker is neck-and-neck with his challenger, Jackie Biskupski.
The poll by the political website, UtahPolicy.com, shows Becker with a 6-point lead over Biskupski among registered voters. However, among those most likely to vote, Biskupski has a 2-point advantage.
"According to the poll, it looks like a toss-up," Becker told FOX 13 in an interview on Tuesday.
From UtahPolicy.com's poll:
UtahPolicy.com said the survey was conducted by Dan Jones & Associates among 588 registered Salt Lake City voters from Oct. 5-10. Jones told the website the numbers suggest Biskupski would win if the election were held today, but Becker was gaining.
"Combined with evaluating the data in myriad different ways, I believe if the election were today, Jackie Biskupski would win by 3 to 4 percentage points," Jones said in a statement. "The fact that Becker is ahead among all possible registered voters indicates that the more voters that participate including people who did not vote in the primary election, the more likely Mayor Becker is to win."
Salt Lake City mayoral candidates Jackie Biskupski (left) and Ralph Becker (right) in a debate broadcast by FOX 13 recently.
Biskupski pointed out a UtahPolicy.com poll before the primary had her losing, and she won by 15-percent.
"It showed that I was down in that poll and we won big," she told FOX 13. "What we're seeing in our own internal tracking is that same trend."
Salt Lake City is participating in a vote by mail election this year. The city recorder's office said it sent out 72,015 mail-in ballots this year and had only received back 6.5% of them.
A majority of the mail-in ballots were expected to be returned during the last week of the election. With such a close race, it is apparent that both campaigns will be fighting for those who have yet to vote.
"There's no doubt that this is a very winnable race," Biskupski said. "What we need to see is that over the next 22 days, we just keep working as hard as we have been the whole time."
Biskupksi recently launched TV ads and said she continues to canvass the city for voters. Becker, who has dominated in fundraising, said he is knocking on doors and preparing for debates.
"I have believed from the beginning of this campaign that it was going to be a position I would need to earn," he said. "I would need to earn the voters' trust and support for a third term and that it would be a competitive race. It's obviously shaping up to be that."
