First mayoral poll made public

   There's an early poll out about the KC mayor's race. It's not much, but it's something.

   The poll, commissioned for and released by darkhorse candidate Henry Klein, puts him in fourth place, just 1 percentage point out of third, according to campaign manager Sean Spence.

   Klein's campaign, though, won't say which candidate is on top, only that the top four -- in alphabetical order, Al Brooks, Mark Funkhouser, Jim Glover and Klein -- accounted for 59 percent of all respondent votes.

   The rest of the field -- including City Council members Chuck Eddy and Becky Nace, plus the controversial Katheryn Shields -- together earned just 13 percentage points.

   The poll was done by Virginia-based Strategic Services and surveyed 500 likely Kansas City voters from January 2 to 5. That means it was done before Shields officially entered the race.

   Another interesting tidbit: "These voters want change," according to a memo to the Klein campaign from Strategic Services. That's because 62 percent of respondents said the current City Council was doing a fair or poor job. Only 2 percent of respondents said the council was doing an excellent job.

   Spence acknowledges that Klein's campaign, like other mayoral hopefuls, intended to keep this poll private and not release any findings. But then, Klein's handlers didn't expect him to show so well this early. Klein is a former RR Donnelley businesses executive who is running as a political outsider, stressing issues like improving schools. But he also was the first candidate to air a television ad on the mayor's race.

   Strategic Services also forecasted: "If Klein is able to raise and spend the resources he needs, there is little question that he can surge ahead of this pack and make it to the runoff election."

   OK, any other candidates want to rebutt these polling results with their own numbers?

Posted by Jeffrey Spivak

Comments

[jd]

So where is the Star's polling? It's only six weeks out and the Star has yet to publish any of its own polling...

Lynn Hinkle of The Community Coalition to Fix Barry Road posted this on another part of the KCBuzzBlog about last night's Mayoral Forum (showing Klein in the top three when attendees voted their preference):

Real people attended last night's event, and real people voted. With about one third of the ballots calculated on seven different factors (Opening statement, vision, integrity, leadership, communication style, northland issues and the closing question) here are the current top 4:

1. Mark Funkhouser
2. Becky Nace
3. Henry Klein
4. Alvin Brooks

The Community Coalition to Fix Barry Road will release the final results later today.

Albert just made Brooks the new Mayor .

Not at all a surprise with those of us who know most all the players. There are only two who really are able to bring a fresh perspective to the otherwise usual suspects on the KC political scene.

The candidates who believe that we want business as usual here in KC are sadly mistaken and just because a couple have the big name "handlers" and paying big bucks to be told how to do everything..it simply isn't going to happen.

This Barry Rd. Coalition is a perfect example of just how little the representative of that area is in contact with his own constituents. Fairfield isn't even in the top four.

[FarRight]

I took a poll in my office and then did a memo on it. Will any desperate campaign pay me to say that their candidate is in the top 4.

How can you report on a poll that you don't actually have? You have a memo, don't waste our time unless you actually have the numbers.

I've got $5 that says Henry Klein has 2.5% of the vote. However the spin that he's in the group with 59% is mostly attributable to Brooks and Glover-- not Klein.

I suppose I'm glad this story is here and not in The Star since this technically isn't a story. Publishing "results" from a poll conducted by a candidate that doesn't tell you what the results are is ... just bizarre.

I bet Little Al wasn't a choice in this poll since he just jumped in this week. I'm sure his entry probably knocks Klein down to fifth! LOL

Doesnt surprize me Farfield is low in name id he is legend in his own mind

[Craig]

I was at the Park Hill High School mayoral forum last night, and I can tell you: those people are not happy campers. Henry Klein drew first applause with a strong criticism of CIMO (the award-winning pride of the City Manager), followed by Mark Funkhouser's short-and-sweet "No, of course not!" answer to whether he supports the Briarcliff TIF (foreshadowing today's exchange between Dr. Funkhouser and Councilman Fairfield). Fairfield-of-the-North, who represents the status quo in K.C. as much as Alvin Brooks or Chuck Eddy of-the-South, didn't seem too popular even though he was on home turf.

I was one of the lucky 500 who answered Klein's poll. The questions were poorly worded and the pollster seemed distracted. From the questions I gathered that Klein thinks he can ignore the rest of the council and single handedly bring about change. Somehow I think that's not the way it works. His business pedigree is absolutely meaningless if he doesn't realize that in order to succeed, the next mayor will need to know how build a strong council coalition that will deliver 7 votes when the votes are needed.

Yeah. Sure you were polled.tell us another.

It is funny to say the least about this poll. It came from Klein people I bet you they made more then 500 calls to get the results they wanted. I don't think you can call his and count them. I would this poll has very little truth to it other then the results they wanted.

That's not really how reputable polling firms do things, is it? Isn't it more likely that the results are exactly what has been reported, even though any number of things could happen before election day?

That's not really how reputable polling firms do things, is it? Isn't it more likely that the results are exactly what has been reported, even though any number of things could happen before election day?

[John Boy]

Hey, look..I am a politician..yada yada yada, blah blah blah..zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[try2Bobjective]

Note on the The Community Coalition to Fix Barry Road voting results posted at the top here:

CUATION WHEN READING THEM! I was told that if you showed up you could vote. Why is the Coalition even attempting to reflect these "ratings", when they're probably determined by the number of campaign staffers that attended the event, and then of course voted for their candidates?

Very inappropriate. You did a service by having the forum, and you do a much greater diservice by publshing results that have absolutley zero validity.

You guys need to get over yourself. This is a BLOG. These are polls. They both needed to be weighed accordingly and taken for what they're worth.

Quite frankly, we need to get a mayor who is big into basic services. It is becoming a matter of quality of life and death, literally.

Just awhile ago the breaking news reported a crime victim at 63rd and main, just blocks from my house. A water main just down the street at Meyer is still broken. Our services have been lacking in this area for years. The streets are in horrible shape from all the cable installations in the last years, and the steel plates are evident all over the area.

You cannot believe how unimpressed I am with Briarcliff and all the swell amenities that they are going to get at the expense of all the rest of us.

I am glad that light is being shined on the deferred maintenance issues, it is long overdue. We had a councilwoman in this district several years ago who warned about this happening. Now we have a group down at the hall who are trying to claim this is all doom and gloom and to discount the people who are strong supporters of deferred maintenance. What I am seeing here in my neighborhood yesterday and tonight alone is not doom and gloom. I am right in the middle of it.

Is it any wonder that there is a giant sucking sound of people and money to the north? That bridge across the river is separating the haves and have-nots, and our current city leaders are helping "bridge" the gap, so to speak.

[Joseph Werkmeister]

If 72% of respondents' answers go toward all those candidates named above what happened to the other 28%?

Both of the pieces of data - th poll and the forum vote - are just snapshots in time. Both are important for today, but may not be important in a month from now. I do think it is funny that someone is complaining that people did better in the Barry Road vote because they brought more of their supporters to the election. Isn't that what elections are about? Doesn't that make it even more interesting that Fairfield did poorly?

What is the final data on this.
Whether or not it was scientific, it does reflect some interesting information.

Spence release the whole poll breakouts and questions, without that the results are pointless