This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Republican Rep. Mia Love may be seeing some daylight between her and Democrat Doug Owens in their rematch for Utah's 4th Congressional District seat, according to a new poll.
The results show that Love has built a 13-point gap between herself and the Democratic challenger with 12 weeks until the election. Love leads Owens 51 percent to 38 percent in the Dan Jones & Associates survey for the political website UtahPolicy.com.
The poll found that Owens is struggling to gain traction among independent voters, a group that former Democratic Rep. Jim Matheson won by double digits en route to his victory over Love in the district in 2012 before opting not to seek re-election two years ago.
Independent voters are siding with Love, 46 percent to 40 percent, the survey found.
The fresh figures are in line an internal poll that the Love campaign released last month that showed Love with a 15-point advantage over Owens.
Love's campaign manager, Dave Hansen, said the campaign is pleased to see the race appears to be favoring Love, but it doesn't plan to let up.
"It shows that voters in the district are reacting positively to the job that Mia Love is doing as their member of Congress," Hansen said. "I think there is some concern among voters in the district — in spite of our opponent's protestations that he's not really one of those Washington Democrats — he still gave money to Hillary Clinton and he takes money from Nancy Pelosi, [D-Calif.] and if he wins, that helps her become speaker again, and voters in the district don't want that to happen."
A spokesman for the Owens campaign could not immediately be reached.
The poll of 405 likely 4th District voters was conducted by Dan Jones & Associates between July 18 and Aug. 8. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.87 percent.
A poll by SurveyUSA commissioned in early June by The Salt Lake Tribune and Hinckley Institute of Politics at the University of Utah showed Owens with an edge of 51 percent to 45 percent. Hansen expressed skepticism of the numbers at that time.
The House Majority PAC has reserved $380,000 of television advertising airtime in the state between now and the election, and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has made Owens' race one of its top targets for the election cycle. Two years ago, national Democrats largely ignored the contest.
Love, meanwhile, has reserved more than $1 million in television time between now and the election.
Love has out-raised Owens by a 2-to-1 margin, bringing in $3.4 million to the Democrat's $1.4 million. She has $1.5 million in the bank compared to $890,000 for Owens, according to their most recent disclosures.
Hansen said that, for all the talk about the potential for voters' dislike of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump to depress turnout in November, people ignore that the Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton, is even more unpopular.
"If one of the candidates was a bright shining star and the other was where they are, you'd be concerned, but that's not the case," Hansen said. "I think it's going to even out, and it's going to be a race between the two candidates [Love and Owens]."
Twitter: @RobertGehrke