A majority of Republican voters have yet to make up their minds in the seven-way GOP primary race to challenge U.S. Rep. Tom Perriello, D-Ivy, in the fall.
A new poll out Friday found that 51 percent of likely GOP primary voters are undecided in the June 8 nominating contest, according to a Public Policy Polling survey of 400 Republican voters in the 5th District.
Of the voters who have settled on a candidate, Sen. Robert Hurt, R-Chatham, is the clear frontrunner. The poll found that 22 percent of likely GOP voters favor Hurt.
Next to Hurt, Albemarle County Supervisor Kenneth C. Boyd is favored by 12 percent of the Republican voters.
Each of the other five Republicans in the race are favored by between 2 percent and 4 percent of likely GOP voters.
Campbell County businessman Ron Ferrin received 4 percent, as did Fluvanna County biology teacher Feda Kidd Morton.
Michael McPadden, a commercial airline pilot from North Garden, was backed by 3 percent of the survey’s respondents.
Private real estate investor Laurence Verga was the choice of 2 percent of likely voters. Moneta real estate developer Jim McKelvey also received 2 percent of the respondents’ support.
The survey’s results, noted Public Policy Polling’s director, Tom Jensen, come long before the June primary and much can change in the coming months.
“Hurt and Boyd have greater name recognition than the other candidates as the ones who have prior experience in elected office, but once the money starts flowing on paid media things could look pretty different,” Jensen wrote in an e-mail sent to reporters.
A PPP poll released Thursday showed that Perriello, a freshman Democrat, is tied with Hurt at 44 percent each.
That poll also showed that Perriello has a 46-42 lead over Boyd, a 45-37 over McKelvey, a 45-36 over McPadden and a 44-34 over Verga.
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