UtahPolicy.com straw poll: Escamilla, Dabakis are the favorites in SLC mayoral race

Our “Political Insiders” and readers think Sen. Luz Escamilla and former Sen. Jim Dabakis have the best chance of finishing in the top-two of the August Salt Lake City mayoral primary election and advancing to the November election.

So far, there are nine candidates vying to replace outgoing Mayor Jackie Biskupski, who announced earlier this year she would not seek a second term heading up Utah’s capitol city.

We asked our panel of “Political Insiders” and readers to predict the finishing order for the August primary election. Escamilla was picked as the frontrunner across all three groups and Dabakis was second. After that, opinions vary.

David Garbett was the 3rd choice among Republicans and our readers, while Democrats picked David Ibarra 3rd. Ibarra came in 4th among the Republicans on our panel and our readers.

You can see the full results below.

Republican insiders Democratic insiders UtahPolicy.com readers Luz Escamilla 1st 1st 1st Jim Dabakis 2nd 2nd 2nd David Garbett 3rd 5th 3rd David Ibarra 4th 3rd 4th Erin Mendenhall 5th 4th 5th Richard Goldberger 6th 8th 7th Christian Harrison 7th 7th 8th Stan Penfold 8th 6th 6th Aaron Johnson 9th 9th 9th

These numbers are similar to our April straw poll when Luz Escamilla was picked as the frontrunner in the race, while Jim Dabakis and Erin Mendenhall were picked second.

The contest is easily on track to become the most expensive in the city’s history. Several candidates have already raised more than $100,000.

Editor’s note:

After the publication of our April straw poll on the race, Jim Dabakis accused, without proof, that UtahPolicy.com was trying to manipulate public opinion in favor of other candidates.

For reference, Wikipedia defines a straw poll as an “ad-hoc or unofficial vote.” Straw polls “provide important interactive dialogue among movements within large groups, reflecting trends like organization and motivation.”

“Opinion polls are generally conducted with statistical selection controls in place and are thus called ‘scientific,’ while straw polls are conducted among self-selected populations and are called ‘unscientific.’”

The results of our straw poll are not scientific or predictive and are not presented as such.