Leventhal opponents respond to poll showing him in a virtual tie with Elrich

Montgomery County executive candidate George Leventhal, a four-term at-large county councilman who hails from Takoma Park, on Monday released the results of a poll that shows him in a virtual tie with fellow Democratic executive candidate Marc Elrich, who, like Leventhal, is term-limited and resides in Takoma Park.

Leventhal’s poll, conducted by Lake Research Partners from March 15 through March 20, surveyed 400 “likely 2018 Democratic primary voters in Montgomery County.” The results of the poll claim to show Leventhal and Elrich locked in a virtual dead heat. The poll’s margin of error was of +/- 4.9%.

However, the poll portends to show the Democratic primary as wide-open, with 58% of Democrats claiming to be undecided.

A Miner Detail reached out to Leventhal’s Democratic primary opponents for reaction. Elrich’s campaign spokesman told A Miner Detail that “Marc doesn’t have any comments” and Rose Krasnow’s campaign did not respond to A Miner Detail’s request for comment.

Roger Berliner’s campaign manager, Mallory MacRostie, commented on behalf of Berliner’s campaign, telling A Miner Detail

Candidates often make claims as to their respective strengths based on their polling, particularly after spending so heavily so early, as the Leventhal campaign has done. His results are inconsistent with our poll results, which show that Roger, Marc, and George start off statistically tied. And this is before our campaign has spent any real money communicating with voters. By the end of our survey, Roger develops a clear lead. I will also note that George’s poll doesn’t capture Roger’s message, a message that our poll indicates is very effective in moving the needle among undecided voters. We like where we are in this race, and are increasingly confident that the poll that counts, on June 26th will end with Roger Berliner on top.

David Blair’s campaign forwarded A Miner Detail the following statement:

It appears to be a wide open race.  With 58% of the electorate undecided and three months to go, it indicates that a majority of our residents are not content with the status quo and are ready to embrace a candidate with a fresh perspective who can affect real change.

Practicing the art of brevity, state Del. Bill Frick (D-Bethesda) emailed A Miner Detail that the race is “wide open.”

Finally, Leventhal campaign spokeswoman Jessica Moore forwarded A Miner Detail the following statement:

We were pleased with the results and our team thought they were so promising that we should release a summary. The poll shows that Marc and George start out ahead of the rest of the field, and that when voters learn more about George, they move in his direction. All good for us!

Read the full results of the poll and its key findings below.

Leventhal county executive poll by Ryan Miner on Scribd