Vince Gray has a big lead in the Ward 7 D.C. Council race, according to a poll released by his campaign.
Gray’s campaign paid for the Public Policy Polling poll, so make of that what you will. Still, the numbers don’t look great for incumbent (and one-time Gray protege) Yvette Alexander.
The automated poll, conducted between Tuesday and Wednesday last week, finds Gray with 52 percent of the vote compared to Alexander’s 23 percent. Twenty percent of respondents weren’t sure who they would vote for in June’s primary.
Candidates Grant Thompson and Delmary Chesley received 4 and 2 percent, respectively. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points.
The poll’s 29-point difference between Gray and Alexander suggests an improvement since January, when PPP polled on behalf of his affiliated political action committee. Back then, Gray polled at 48 percent while Alexander received 32 percent—-a 16-point difference.
That (depending on how much you believe this new poll) suggests Gray’s support has grown slightly while Alexander has slid down. Gray campaign treasurer Chuck Thies talked up the poll’s results, blaming Alexander’s apparent slipping support on her criticism of the ex-mayor.
“A candidate who understands the concerns of Ward 7 voters should know that attacks against Vince would backfire,” Thies writes in an email to LL.
The poll’s timing means it contains voters’ reactions to news in Gray shadow campaign worker Vernon Hawkins‘ court files about a “close relative” of Gray’s taking money from illicit campaign financier Jeff Thompson, but didn’t include Friday’s release of nearly 1,000 pages from the Gray investigation.
Photo by Darrow Montgomery
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