Republican Senator Mike Leigh in a tight contest with Evan McMullin in the Utah Senate: Poll

• According to a new study, Mike Leigh is trapped in a close Senate race with independent Evan McMullin in Utah.
• In the latest Deseret News / Hinckley Institute of Politics poll, Lee had a slight advantage over McMarin (41% -36%).
• In April, McMarin gained official support from the State Democratic Party at its Republican home.

For generations, Utah has been the home of the Republican Party and has consistently supported GOP presidential candidates and state-wide officers.

However, incumbent Republican Senator Mike Lee faces independent Evan McMullin this fall, which could be shaped to represent the continued influence of former President Donald Trump throughout Beehive. Senate elections can shake state politics in unusual ways.

In the latest Deseret News / Hinckley Institute of Politics poll, Lee received 41% of respondents’ support, 36% in favor of McMarin, and 14% choosing another candidate. According to polls, 8% of respondents said it was undecided.

Lee’s employment approval rate was 46%, with 47% disagreeing with Senator’s second-term senator’s performance and 7% disagreeing.

The poll surveyed 801 registered voters throughout mid-July, with an error of plus or minus 3.46 percentage points.

Jason Perry, director of the Hinckley Institute of Politics at the University of Utah, told Deseret News that the state “has never seen such a competitive Senate race for decades.”

“Both Lee and McMarin have a fixed foundation of support and will spend the next few months fighting to win the undecided minority. This race is expensive due to tremendous outside interest. It will be, “he told the press.

Evan McMullin, an independent senator candidate.

AP Photo / Rick Bowmer, File

Lee is trying to take advantage of the GOP base, which is expected to be a strong year for parties across the country, but McMarin is among some Republicans about Trump’s incumbent move into the political sphere of influence in recent years. I am dissatisfied with it.

Lee defeated former state legislators Becky Edwards and Ally Esom (former spokesperson for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) in the Republican primary last month, but he gave considerable votes to opponents. He received almost 62% of the party’s votes, Edwards won 30%, and Esom was favored by 8%.

But unlike most Republicans across the country, Edwards and Esom criticized Lee for his lack of independence from Trump, arguing that voters wanted less partisan people.

McMarin wants to fill that gap. He even won the support of the state Democratic Party. Democrats did not defend their own candidates and instead chose to throw their support behind his candidacy. (The Democratic Party has not won the race in the Utah Senate since Frank Moss was reelected in the third quarter in 1970.)

Lee has become an integral part of the Republican caucuses, but McMarin told NBC News earlier this month that if he were elected this fall, neither major party would hold a caucuses.

Lee supported all of Trump’s Supreme Court judicial candidates (Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett), but McMarin supported Gorsuch while expressing heavy reservations for Kavanaugh and Barrett. Just said.

And McMarin would have voted for Ketanji Brown Jackson, who was nominated by President Joe Biden in the High Court and confirmed by a 53-47 difference with the support of 50 Democrats and 3 Republicans. Stated.

Utah Senator Mitt Romney, who has been keenly criticizing Trump, was one of a small Republican group in favor of Jackson.