Two polls are out on Albuquerque’s mayoral race. And it looks like there will be a runoff, with State Auditor Tim Keller running in the lead.
If no candidate receives 50 percent of the vote, voters will then decide between the top two candidates in a November runoff election. The first round of voting takes place on October 3.
A KRQE-TV poll released earlier this week showed 22 percent of registered voters would support Keller in next month’s mayoral election. Next in line came city councilor Dan Lewis (11 percent), attorney and former Democratic Party of New Mexico chairman Brian Colón (10 percent) and Bernalillo County Commissioner Wayne Johnson (eight percent) .
A Carroll Strategies poll, as reported by KOB-TV, showed Keller with 23 percent of support and Colón at 19 percent. No other candidates were above ten percent in that poll, with Lewis and Johnson close to double digits, each at 8 percent.
Both polls revealed that many most voters are still undecided. The KRQE poll showed 36 percent of registered voters were undecided, while the Carroll Strategies poll showed 30 percent of registered voters hadn’t decided on a candidate yet.
There was no runoff in the 2013 city election, as Richard Berry reached 50 percent in the first round of voting. Berry is not running for a third term.
What voters care about
The polls also showed similar results on what issues voters cared about.
The Carroll Strategies poll found 64 percent of those polled believed crime was the most important issue facing the city, while jobs was a distant second, at just 14 percent.
The KRQE poll showed 65 percent thought crime was the most important issue, to 13 percent for jobs and 11 percent the economy.
The Carroll Strategies poll also looked at other issues in Albuquerque. It showed 46 percent supported a ballot issue to require that employers provide sick leave to employees, while 32 percent opposed.
Unsurprisingly, the poll also finds that the Albuquerque Rapid Transit bus project is unpopular with 65 percent opposing the project, while just 16 percent support.
The KRQE poll was conducted by calling 500 registered voters on Aug. 26 and 27, with automated calls for voters with landlines and live questions for those on cell phones. Of those called, 74 percent were landlines. The poll has a margin of error of +/- 4.4 percent.
NM Political Report reached out to Carroll Strategies for more information on their poll’s methodology.
