Tiahrt internal poll: He, Moran 'statistically tied'

The Republican Senate contest in Kansas could be tighter than recent polling would indicate, the Tiahrt campaign is suggesting.

Republican Congressmen Todd Tiahrt and Jerry Moran are "statistically tied," according to an internal Tiahrt campaign poll.

The telephone survey this week of 400 likely Republican primary voters showed Moran ahead, 37 percent to 34 percent, with 26 percent undecided. The margin of error was plus or minus 4.9 percent.

Campaigns often don't release internal poll results. It should be noted that they are undertaken by partisan polling operations and should be viewed in that context.

"We feel really good about where the campaign is right now," said Republican pollster Jim McLaughlin, whose firm, McLaughlin & Associates, conducted the poll. "We were fully expecting that we were possibly down double digits."

Moran spokesman Dan Conston said, "All of the other public independent polls have shown vastly different numbers; I'd be surprised if Todd Tiahrt even believed these numbers."

A recent poll by SurveyUSA for KWCH in Wichita showed Moran ahead by 20 points.

The Tiahrt poll also asked how voters viewed the candidates, and these results were also close: 46 percent saw Tiahrt as conservative, 20 percent saw him as a moderate, and 5 percent said he was a liberal.

Of Moran, 42 percent of the respondents viewed him as a conservative, 23 percent saw him as a moderate, and 8 percent said he was a liberal.

Moran and Tiahrt are seeking the seat now held by Republican Sen. Sam Brownback, who is running for governor.

This story was originally published July 1, 2010 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Tiahrt internal poll: He, Moran 'statistically tied'."