Many Washington voters still undecided on governor's race 6 weeks ahead of primary

With six weeks to go until the Aug. 6 primary in Washington state, a large percentage of registered voters say they haven’t made a decision on who will get their vote in the governor’s race.

A Scott Rasmussen National Survey of 800 registered voters conducted between May 20-23 asked, “If the election for governor were held today, for whom would you vote?”

31% said Republican Dave Reichert, 33% said Democrat Bob Ferguson, 5% said Democrat Mark Mullet, 4% said Republican Semi Bird, 5% said some other candidate and 21% indicated they were not sure.

A follow up question asked, “Regardless of who you want to win, who is most likely to be elected governor?”

Nearly half of respondents – 49% – said Ferguson is likely to win. Reichert garnered 17%, while 24% said they were not sure.

The survey’s margin of error for the full sample is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

A poll conducted from May 13-16 by Cascade PBS and Elway Research surveyed 403 registered voters, who broke down by party affiliation as follows: 36% Democrat, 25% Republican and 39% independent.

When asked if they have decided who to vote for in the governor’s race, 47% said they had not made their mind up. Of those who have decided, 22% said Ferguson would get their vote, 22% said they would vote for Mullet, 20% said Reichert would get their vote and 5% said they would vote for Bird.

The Cascade PBS/Elway poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points.

The Center Square reached out to each of the four gubernatorial campaigns for comment on the poll results.

The Ferguson campaign sent an email that reads in part, “Bob has more grassroots donors and more small business owners endorsing his campaign than all other candidates. He has the overwhelming support of organized labor representing working families. He has more endorsements from prosecutors and firefighters than any other candidate. He is the only candidate with an endorsement from a tribe or organization dedicated to reproductive justice, clean air and water, or ending gun violence."

The Reichert campaign acknowledged the tightness of the gubernatorial contest. 

“It is no surprise to see yet another poll showing a toss up race," the Reichert campaign emailed The Center Square. "Bob Ferguson would be four more years of the same policies that have made Washington unaffordable and our communities less safe at a time when voters are clamoring for change.”

The Bird campaign sent the following response regarding the Elway poll: “The polls being used for this governor’s race, which only sample 400-600 people per survey, are an unreliable estimation at best. There’s a reason why the Reichert campaign and his big money donors pay good money for them to show misleading voter sentiment; whereas, we have a very common-sense poll of 1,839 delegates who passionately endorsed me with [a] 72% supermajority vote."

Sen. Mark Mullet emailed The Center Square the following reply: “This poll confirmed what we already know: Almost half of Washington voters are undecided, and they're concerned about affordability and public safety - issue areas I have a track record of finding bipartisan solutions for. I'm endorsed by public safety officials (WACOPS) and the Law Enforcement Administrators of Washington (LAW), and am focused on making Washington state a more affordable place for all families who live here."