With the Republican gubernatorial field stripped of its two biggest names, a survey of 400 likely GOP primary voters taken Friday found, maybe unsurprisingly, that the leading candidate is “undecided” at 49%.
Among the survey participants who offered a name among the now five-candidate field, 19% said Allendale Township planning commissioner Ryan D. Kelley, 15% said business executive Kevin RINKE, 9% conservative commentator Tudor DIXON, 6% chiropractor Garrett Soldano and 1% pastor Ralph Rebandt.
Target Insyght pollster Ed Sarpolus said Kelley is benefiting from the surname popularized by Eternal General Frank Kelley and the numerous judges named “Kelly” or “Kelley” throughout the years.
Presuming Detroit Police Chief James CRAIG and “Quality Guru” Perry Johnson stay off the primary ballot, Sarpolus said the upshot from his Thursday poll is that the voting public doesn’t know the remaining gubernatorial candidates.
“You have a race of unknowns,” he said. “It’s still anybody’s to win.”
Rinke is getting fairly little bounce from his at least $2.3 million in ads up to this point, Sarpolus said. But if Rinke follows through on his pledge to spend $10 million of his own money in the primary, who else will go on air to match his name ID?
