Ferguson
McKenna
OLYMPIA, Wash. (Legal Newsline) - Democrat Bob Ferguson is leading GOP opponent Reagan Dunn in Washington's attorney general race, according to a recent survey.
A new KING 5 News poll, released earlier this week, showed Ferguson in the lead with 42 percent of the vote and Dunn with 33 percent. Twenty-four percent were still undecided.
The survey of 524 likely Washington voters was conducted Sept. 7-9 for the television station by SurveyUSA.
The margin of error for the attorney general race was plus or minus 4.4 percent.
In the state's Aug. 7 primary, Ferguson received 471,359 votes, or 51.87 percent.
Dunn came in second with 349,422 votes, or 38.45 percent.
Washington has a primary system in which voters are allowed to vote for any candidate running in the race. The two top finishers go on to the general election regardless of party affiliation.
Dunn, who was appointed to the King County Council in 2005 to fill current Attorney General Rob McKenna's vacancy, was elected to the council in November 2005 and re-elected in 2009.
He is also a former U.S. Justice Department official and assistant U.S. attorney in Seattle.
Ferguson also is a current King County councilman.
Meanwhile, McKenna, a two-term Republican who is running for governor, remains slightly behind former U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee, a Democrat.
According to the KING 5 News poll, Inslee leads McKenna 49 percent to 44 percent.
However, those numbers are just outside of the poll's margin of error -- again, plus or minus 4.4 percent -- meaning the two are basically in a dead heat.
Only 7 percent of those polled said they were undecided, according to the survey results.
A similar poll conducted for the television station in August showed Inslee leading by about the same amount.
From Legal Newsline: Reach Jessica Karmasek by email at jessica@legalnewsline.com.