By Paul Gable
Grand Strand Daily has acquired a copy of results from a recent poll on some of the Republican candidates in Horry County and several key races in this election cycle.
Polls such as this are not uncommon this early in the primary period as PACs, campaigns, business groups and donors are interested in where respective candidates are starting and what work must be done to make them viable.
Grand Strand Daily is in no way associated with this poll, but was able to obtain a copy of the results.
According to information provided, polling was conducted over four days. Only registered Republican voters who participated in at least two of the last three Republican primaries were contacted. A total of 347 interviews were completed for the poll sample.
The polling was very limited to ascertain only name recognition and favorability factors for the candidates listed.
Results from the poll questions were as follows:
Questionnaire
- I am going to read a list of 12 declared candidates for elective office in Horry County in 2016. Please tell me if you have ever heard of or are familiar with this person. If you do not know this person, just respond ‘Don’t Know’. If you do know or have heard of this person, please tell me if you view this person ‘Favorably’, ‘Unfavorably’ or ‘No Opinion’.
Candidate Don’t Know Fav Unfav No Opinion
Robert Seth Rabon 68%/236 42 12 57
Lois Eargle 31%/108 169 69 109
Scott Pyle 49%/170 94 23 60
Luke Rankin 29%/101 166 51 29
Dennis DiSabato 56%/194 69 41 43
Angie Jones 69%/239 23 65 21
Jonathon Hyman 76%/263 44 12 28
Gary Loftus 42%/145 80 42 80
Dick Withington 61%/212 12 79 44
David Jordan 58%/201 68 31 47
Rene Elvis 72%/250 36 48 13
2. Next, I am going to ask you about a couple of races that are coming up in the June Republican Primary. When you hear the names of the candidates, please tell me who you would vote for if the election were held today.
- Clerk of Court
David Jordan 142
Rene Elvis 39
No Opinion 166
- County Treasurer
Angie Jones 33
Jonathon Hyman 72
No Opinion 241
- County Auditor
Lois Eargle 122
Robert Seth Rabon 88
No Opinion 137
- State Senate Dist 33
Scott Pyle 69
Luke Rankin 84
No Opinion 194
Some interesting observations can be made from the poll results. The incumbents generally have higher name recognition than the first time candidates.
Lois Eargle scores higher in unfavorable than I would have expected. Talk around the county is some think her too old. However, in a state that voted for Strom Thurmond, even after he didn’t know who he was anymore, this is a surprise.
It is possible, but not probable at this point, that Seth Rabon could pull off a surprise in the Auditor race.
The Treasurer race is interesting as both have relatively low name recognition. But, the difference is Jonathon Hyman has high favorables among those who recognize him while Angie Jones has high unfovorables.
Neither candidate in the Clerk of Court race had high name recognition, but most of those who knew of David Jordan rated him favorably while Rene Elvis scored higher in the unfavorable category.
The state senate race is interesting and probably needs further in depth questioning and analysis before any real conclusions can be drawn.
As would be expected from recent news stories, Dick Withington has the highest unfavorable rating among those who recognize his name.
Speak Up…