By Dave Workman
Editor-in-Chief
A recently-published poll on the Washington State governor’s race shows Democrat Bob Ferguson holding a strong lead over Republican Dave Reichert, but the survey—by Cascade PBS/Elway—had only 403 participants, and was heavily tilted toward Western Washington and Democrats.
And according to the Spokane Spokesman-Review, topping the list of priorities for Washington voters are “gun control, abortion access (and) policing.” Ferguson is an ardent gun control proponent while Reichert prefers focusing on criminals, and as a former King County sheriff, he has a law enforcement track record.
The current poll participation breakdown, according to the Sept. 3-6 poll, was King County 29%, Other Western Washington 50%, Eastern Washington 21%, with the following Party identification: Democrat 43%, Republican 24% and Independent 34%.
Of course, the majority of Washington residents live in Western Washington, with heavily-Democrat King County being the most populous.
As noted by the Spokesman-Review, “But with nearly 10% of Washington voters indicating they were undecided on a candidate, this year’s race could still be close if poll results hold true.”
Underscoring that scenario, Cascade PBS reported Independent voters are “leaning toward Reichert, with nearly half saying they would vote for the Republican.”
Democrats (22%) more than Republicans (19%) or Independents (20%) say ideology is more important, and 29% of Democrats are ideologues who will vote entirely for Democratic candidates in state Senate and House races.
What about the gun control issue?
While claiming to be “someone who supports the Second Amendment,” Ferguson, who has been the state attorney general for the past 12 years, during which he championed bans on so-called “assault weapons” and “large-capacity magazines,” said during a gubernatorial debate broadcast by KING in Seattle he also believes there are “responsible limitations on the Second Amendment.”
“There are limits on all of our constitutional rights,” he said.
Reichert, on the other hand, told the debate moderators, “What I would like to do is focus on gun crime, and I have a record of doing that. When I was the sheriff we put together a group of people, the first time in history, I would say that we brought together people from CeaseFire and the NRA. We came up with the King county Firearms Coalition, which was very successful in reducing gun crime and gang violence.”
Cascade PBS said the poll “reached out to registered Washington voters Sept. 3 to Sept. 6 via a live phone interview or a text invitation to an online survey.”
In an attempt to pigeonhole Reichert as a Donald Trump supporter, Ferguson sanctimoniously accused the former sheriff of “voting for and supporting a convicted felon for president.” Trump is highly unpopular among Washington Democrats, and even some Independents. Reichert said he is not supporting the former president, and then observed Ferguson is obsessed with Trump.
According to Wikipedia, Ferguson “sued the Trump administration 97 times, leading 36 of the cases, realizing victory 22 times, and losing once.”
