Public Policy Polling’s newest South Dakota survey continues to find Mike Rounds stuck
under 40%. Right now 38% of voters say they intend to vote for him to 28% for Rick
Weiland, 15% for Larry Pressler, and 4% for Gordon Howie. There are several
encouraging findings for Weiland within the poll results:
-Most of Rounds’ early lead is based on having higher name recognition than Weiland,
and Weiland actually has the advantage among voters who have heard of him. 82% of
voters are familiar with Rounds compared to 67% for Weiland, but among the group that
has heard of Weiland he leads 38/36. That bodes well for his prospects as he becomes
better known.
-Weiland (+6) has a higher net favorability rating than Rounds (even). 36% of voters see
him favorably to only 30% who have a negative opinion of him. Meanwhile voters are
evenly divided on Rounds with 41% rating him positively and 41% with an unfavorable
view.