Poll:"Mallahan gains on Nickels in Seattle mayor's race"

Joel Connelly (Strange Bedfellows):

Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels' lead has fallen from 12 to just 3 points in the latest KING 5 news poll, with T-Mobile executive Joe Mallahan picking up support from over-65 voters, independents and Republicans.

It is Mallahan's second piece of good news this week: The business executive and Obama campaign veteran placed second behind Nickels in The Washington Poll, 12 points behind the incumbent.

But the KING survey shows Mallahan moving much closer to the mayor.

In a possible response, the Nickels campaign has put another $47,000 into cable TV advertising in the last weekend before Aug. 18, the deadline date for voters to mail in their ballots.

The latest KING poll figures put Nickels at 22 percent, Mallahan at 19 percent, Sierra Club activist Mike McGinn at 15 percent, ex-Seattle SuperSonic James Donaldson at 11 percent, with Councilwoman Jan Drago trailing at 7 percent.

The latest survey shows a smaller - but still sizable - block of undecided votes.

One other candidate is climbing in the latest KING survey.

Without TV advertising - with a single part-time staffer but an active volunteer campaign - McGinn has gained support from the previous poll.

The survey was, however, taken before Drago began her television campaign. The longtime councilwoman stresses her opposition to the city's 20-cent plastic bag fee. According to the KING survey, the bag fee is headed for defeat at the polls.

In the KING poll, which surveyed 579 likely voters, Nickels maintains a 10-point lead among voters identifying themselves as Democrats. But Mallahan has pulled ahead among independents and Republicans.

Mallahan is also running ahead of the incumbent among senior voters.

University of Washington political scientist Matt Barreto, overseer of The Washington Poll, predicts that over-65 voters will turn out to be a major factor in the mid-summer primary.

He notes that the vote is coming during a month when many younger voters, and families, recreate and take vacations.