By Christopher Miller, cmiller@bgdailynews.com — 270-783-3246

Wednesday, May 26, 2004

While still behind opponent U.S. Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., state Sen. Daniel Mongiardo, D-Hazard, is touting his polling numbers in the race. If the election were held today, 48 percent of the likely voters polled would vote for Bunning, while Mongiardo would receive 39 percent, with 13 percent undecided, Mongiardos campaign manager Kim Geveden said Tuesday. Clearly, the results of the survey show that Daniel Mongiardo is in a much stronger position than expected, Geveden said. The poll questioned 504 likely voters. Bunning enjoyed name recognition of 83 percent, while Mongiardo enjoyed name recognition of 49 percent. Mongiardos recognition doubled May 19 and 20, when the poll was conducted, from an earlier Bluegrass Poll on May 7, Geveden said. David Young, campaign manager for Bunning, questioned the validity of the numbers. The 49 percent name ID in this fluff Democrat poll is ridiculous since a Bluegrass Poll released almost a week before this one had his name ID in the lower twenties, Young said. Its just hard to take the poll seriously, and we arent. Among voters who were familiar with both candidates, Mongiardo leads with 53 percent of the vote, followed by Bunning with 40 percent. Jim Bunning may have been a Hall of Famer, but theres no heat left on that fastball, Geveden said, referring to Bunnings storied past as a pro baseball player. When asked about Bunnings job approval, 44 percent approved and 38 percent reported he was doing a fair or poor job. When asked about whether Bunning should be re-elected, 38 percent preferred to re-elect Bunning and 38 percent wanted a new senator. Whether a generic Democrat or a generic Republican should be elected, 43 percent said they prefer a Democrat while 36 percent prefer a Republican. When asked if the country was going in the right direction, 33 percent said it was going in the right direction while 47 percent reported it was going off track. If the presidential election was held today, President George Bush would receive 49 percent of the vote in Kentucky, according to the poll, while John Kerry would receive 43 percent. Young said the Bunning campaign is happy with its own numbers. We are doing our own polling and are very happy where Senator Bunning stands with Kentuckians, Young said.  Daily News ·813 College St. ·PO Box 90012 ·Bowling Green, KY ·42102 ·270-781-1700