The Morning Call

John L. Micek

Attorney General Tom Corbett has a 43-5 percent lead over stateRep. Sam Rohrer, R-Berks, in the fight for the GOP gubernatorial nomination, and he's notched double-digit leads over his potential Democratic challengers, according to a new Quinnipiac Universitypoll out this morning.

Nearly six in 10 Democrats have no preference among the Democratic candidates, followed by Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato at 16 percent;Auditor General Jack Wagner at 11 percent; Montgomery County Commissioner Joe Hoeffel at 10 percent and state Sen. Anthony Williams, D-Philadelphia, at 2 percent, Quinny pollsters found.

“The Democratic candidates for Governor are almost invisible men as far as the voters are concerned. One of them will win the nomination, but at this point they are so closely bunched together and such mystery men to the vast majority of primary voters that any result is possible, given that the primary is little more than 10 weeks away,” Quinny pollster Peter Brown said.

If the election were held today Corbett would defeat Onorato 42–32 percent;Wagner 42–30 percent and Hoeffel 41–30 percent, pollsters found.

Despite garnering headlines with the Bonusgate prosecution, Corbett still isn't a household name. But at least half of voters statewide have an opinion about him, with 43 percent saying they have a favorable impression. Ninety-one percent say they don't know enough about Rohrer to have an opinion about him.

In other findings, state voters still have a poor opinion of Gov. Ed, as he notches a 49-43 disapproval rating. But that's world's better than the Legislature, where nearly six in 10 voters say they disapprove of the 253-member body.

Democrats support the Guv;s proposed changes to the sales tax with a bare 51 – 41 percent majority, while independent voters oppose it 53 – 40 percent and Republicans overwhelmingly oppose it 66 – 28 percent.

Another Rendell tax plan to tax energy companies drilling in the state’sMarcellus Shale on the value of the natural gas they produced gets plurality support, 49 – 41 percent, the poll found.

“Such narrow support for a tax on energy companies – a traditional political whipping boy – is an indication of the general anti-tax mood of the electorate,” Brown said in a statement.

Quinny pollsters sampled the opinions of 1,452 voters between Feb. 22 and Feb 28. The survey has an overall margin of error of plus or minus 2.6 percentage points. The surveny includes 649 Democrats, with a margin of plus or minus 3.9 percentage points and 609 Republicans, with a margin of plus or minus 4 percent.

Read the article as published here