Mike Lee holds slight lead in Senate reelection bid: poll

Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) has a slim lead over independent Senate candidate Evan McMullin in a general election match-up, according to a new Deseret News-Hinckley Institute of Politics poll.

The poll found 41 percent of registered Utah voters would support Lee compared to 37 percent supporting McMullin, just slightly above the poll’s margin of error. Nineteen percent of respondents were undecided.

Utah Democrats took the unusual step in April of backing McMullin, an independent who formerly ran for president, rather than a party hopeful in the heavily Republican state.

McMullin will face off against the Republican nominee following a June 28 GOP primary. Lee faces two Republican challengers, former Utah state Rep. Rebecca Edwards and Ally Isom, a former business executive who also served as deputy chief of staff to the state’s former governor.

Lee beat his challengers at the party’s nominating convention with more than 70 percent of the vote. Despite now facing his first contested primary as an incumbent, past polling indicates Lee remains the heavy favorite. 

Among the three GOP candidates, Lee is projected to fare the best in a match-up against McMullin.

The poll found McMullin held an 11-point lead over Isom, while Edwards held a 1-point lead over the independent, but more than a third of respondents — 37 percent — said they didn’t know who they would vote for in that match-up.

Dan Jones & Associates conducted the poll on behalf of the two organizations from May 24 to June 4. The group polled 810 registered Utah voters with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.46 percentage points.