Remember that political poll back in December that queried folks at length about the City Council incumbents and potential rivals? No shocker here but it turns out Brigid Shea was “one of a number of clients” who hired pollster Jeff Smith to conduct the survey. The results showed Mayor Lee Leffingwell “well inside the vulnerable range.”
Shea, a former council member, is challenging Leffingwell for mayor. The memo states that an exploratory committee for Shea was among the clients that retained Smith for the survey. Although Shea’s name was mentioned in one of the poll’s questions, the memo does not state the results for that aspect of the survey.
According to a Feb. 2 Smith memo, the poll (some described it as a “push poll”) was conducted Dec. 5-7 and surveyed 400 likely voters, with the results bearing a statistical accuracy within the plus/minus range of 4.9%.
The complete results of the poll were not released, but the Shea campaign did release Smith’s memo addressing Leffingwell’s re-electability based on the question, “Would you like to see Lee Leffingwell re-elected as Austin mayor, or would you prefer someone else in his place?”
According to Smith, 36% said they would like to see Leffingwell re-elected, 32% would prefer someone else, and 32% said it would depend on the candidate challenging the mayor. “This does not mean that a loss is a foregone conclusion,” Smith wrote, “but that a credible opponent has a reasonable chance of replacing that incumbent.”
This article appears in February 3 • 2012.
