Hawaii Rep. Mazie Hirono (D) is up by wide margins in her bid for Senate, according to a new poll sponsored by the Honolulu Star-Advertiser and Hawaii News Now. Hirono leads former Rep. Ed Case in the Democratic primary, 55 percent to 37 percent. Hirono also leads her likely Republican opponent, former Gov. Linda Lingle, 58 percent to 39 percent. The primary is set for Aug. 11.
The Lingle campaign took issue with the poll. It said Democrats are overrepresented and independents, who lean toward Lingle, are underrepresented. Rebecca Ward, president of Ward Research Inc., which conducted the poll, defended the findings. The poll’s sample is “consistent with everything we’ve known to be true about Hawaii politics,” Ward told the Star-Advertiser.
The polls were conducted July 12-21. The primary poll surveyed 606 likely voters and has a margin of error of 4 percentage points. The general election poll surveyed 756 very likely voters and has a margin of error of 3.6 percentage points.
