The most recent poll, released Monday, on the race for Oregon governor shows Democrat John Kitzhaber and Republican Chris Dudley in a dead heat, prompting some voters to wonder why a second debate between the candidates is not scheduled.
Rasmussen Reports, the online public opinion pollster, conducted the telephone survey among 750 likely voters in the state. It showed Kitzhaber earning 48 percent of the vote and Dudley receiving 46 percent support. The margin of sampling error for the survey was +/- 4 percentage points, so the poll represents a gubernatorial race that’s too close to call. Four percent of those surveyed were undeclared, with 3 percent supporting one of the other two candidates for governor: Libertarian West Wagner and Greg Kord of the Constitution Party.
The latest survey comes after the candidates’ first and only debate, in addition to several weeks of intense politicking through television spots.
The poll will likely be taken as good news for Democrats supporting Kitzhaber. The former governor trailed Dudley by 5 percent in an identical poll conducted on Sept. 8.
University senior Otis Laney, a registered Independent, said he listened to the gubernatorial debate on National Public Radio to get a feel for the candidates, but could use more substance from both before making an informed decision.
“I’d like to read more on each of them, know more about each of them,” Laney said. “I’m still very uncertain.”
Laney said he was leaning toward Dudley because he felt something new was necessary to alter Oregon’s current economic climate.
“Kitzhaber didn’t say he would do anything differently,” he said, “but things are not going well. Stuff sucks right now.”
Laney expressed ambiguity over Kitzhaber and Dudley. When asked if he knew enough about either candidate after the first debate to vote confidently, he answered simply, “no.”
Jillian Schoene, spokesperson for Kitzhaber, said Dudley has said no to the proposed KATU debate, which would have been held in Portland by the League of Women Voters. She also said the Dudley camp never responded to an initial proposal, sent back in July, proposing four separate debates in the weeks leading up to the November election. She said that now a scheduling conflict between the two candidates continues to preclude another debate.
“We wrote the Dudley campaign in early July, but we didn’t hear back,” Schoene said. “Then in August, the Dudley campaign proposed four new dates on which we were not available.”
Alex Durkheimer, an intern with the Dudley campaign in Portland, said another debate is unlikely.
“As of now, there is not a second debate scheduled,” Durkheimer said. “I think right now it looks like there isn’t going to be a second debate.”
Durkheimer said the Dudley campaign is planning a bus tour around the state, though he could not confirm exact dates and locations.
“We essentially have a huge RV that will be sending him and some staff out on the campaign trail for this final stretch,” he said. “We’ll be launching that soon.”
Kitzhaber will be traveling south from Portland this week, with stops scheduled in Clackamas and Medford. On Thursday, Kitzhaber plans to travel to Eugene and will be stopping on campus to visit with the Oregon League of Minority Voters.
Today is the last day to register to vote in the November 2 general election.
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