Mike Eng leads Susan Rubio By 20% In Matchup Using Each Candidate’s Own Descriptive Language

EL MONTE, CA — In the latest poll, just completed Thursday, Mike Eng leads Susan Rubio by 20% in match-up using each candidate’s own descriptive language. This is in stark contrast to data released by Rubio, claiming a lead over Eng despite her having nearly twice the unfavorable ratings.

How could this be?

Last week, the Susan Rubio campaign was faced with a tactical dilemma. Fundraising comparisons from the latest reports reflected that Mike Eng had a $755,623 to $131,793 cash-on-hand advantage over Rubio as she raised less than $70,000 during the last reporting period.

So the Rubio campaign changed course and decided to release polling numbers from early August that they previously were keeping private. There are more than a few problems with the data they released:

·         Rubio claimed she had a 15% lead, but her own pollster released a memo showing a slim lead within the margin of error. It turns out that the data released by the campaign reflected a match-up after unbalanced paragraphs describing the candidates, as indicated on her pollster’s memo.

·         Rubio’s match-up vote failed to include any of Mike Eng’s accomplishments, but included several for her, according to her pollster’s memo.

·         Rubio’s match up vote didn’t reflect that in addition to the California Democratic Party, Mike Eng is endorsed by all significant local Latino leaders, including incumbent State Senator Ed Hernandez, Congresswoman Grace Napolitano, and Supervisor Hilda Solis, among others.

·         Rubio’s pollster revealed that the survey was conducted in English and Spanish only, ignoring the huge number of Mandarin speakers in SD 22.

·         Her pollster’s memo, in contrast to her own, revealed that Rubio’s negatives are nearly twice as high as Mike Eng’s. And unlike Rubio, her pollster characterized the race as “competitive.”

The paragraph match-up in the poll conducted by Goodwin Simon Research for Mike Eng for State Senate, on the other hand, includes balanced information about each candidate, gives Rubio the language her campaign and independent expenditures use, and includes her top-polling endorsers, including Assemblywoman Blanca Rubio, Antonio Villaraigosa and police officers. Mike Eng has a 13% lead (43%-30%), and 17% including leaners (51%-34%), when balanced information is provided.

 

Mike Eng finished with 45.32%, almost 19% ahead of Suan Rubio in the Primary election held a little over 2 months ago. Since then, Mike earned the endorsement of third-place finisher Monica Garcia, who finished with nearly 21% of the vote, only 5.6% behind Rubio.