Hatch Trails in Primary Challenge

Six-term Republican Senator Orrin Hatch is trailing in a hypothetical primary challenge. The Utah Republican just saw his counterpart Bob Bennett knocked out of office last year in a Republican primary. Hatch ran for President in 2000, but did not get more than 3% nationwide. Hatch's last competitive race for Senate was in 1982.

Utah Policy came out with a new poll of that state's Republicans, in which Hatch was placed third against former Governor John Huntsman and current representative Jason Chaffetz.

Huntsman: 40%
Chaffetz: 30%
Hatch: 26%
Other/Und: 4%

Hatch's chances suffer when the more serious Republican primary voters are polled:

Among self-described "very conservative" Utah voters, Hatch fares worst. Nineteen percent of those voters would pick him in a three-way primary, 48 percent would choose Chaffetz, and 26 percent would back Huntsman. 

Hatch does still do well in a general election matchup, beating a Democrat by 9%, even though he won by 31% in 2006, a good year for Democrats.


Please bookmark!