Notorious scammer and con artist Tim Eyman is experiencing negative momentum in his gubernatorial campaign while popular support for Governor Jay Inslee increases, a new SurveyUSA poll conducted for KING5 suggests.
50% of those surveyed in the poll said they would vote to reelect Inslee, compared to 39% who said they’d vote to reelect Inslee in January, in a previous statewide poll also conducted by SurveyUSA for KING5.
Eyman, on the other hand, went from having 11% support in January to 8% in the poll conducted this week, dropping into the single digits.
That’s certainly embarrassing for Eyman, but is something that honest Washingtonians who value integrity can take great comfort in.
The other Republicans in the race have even less support than Eyman.
Phil Fortunato and Joshua Freed each polled at 6%, while Loren Culp polled at 4%. Collectively, the entire field of Republican candidates received just 24%, less than half of the support indicated for Governor Jay Inslee in the survey.
Another 23% were undecided.

A summary of SurveyUSA’s latest findings for KING5 in the 2020 Washington gubernatorial race, as of May 20th, 2020 (KING5)
By way of comparison, four years ago, at about this time, multiple surveys (by Moore Information and Elway Research) put Jay Inslee’s support in the mid to high forties, while finding Republican challenger Bill Bryant had support at 36%.
Inslee is now running for a third term — something no incumbent governor has sought since the legendary Dan Evans in the 1970s — and yet according to the public opinion research data we have so far, Inslee is finding more support among Washington voters than he did for his second term.
Inslee’s job approval ratings have also shot up since January of 2020.
“By more than 2:1, Washington state residents say Governor Jay Inslee is doing a better job responding to COVID-19, the Coronavirus, than President Donald Trump, according to fresh SurveyUSA opinion research conducted for KING-TV in Seattle. 61% statewide say Inslee has responded to the pandemic the better of the two; 29% say Trump has responded better,” SurveyUSA reported.
The pollster, which is a longtime KING5 partner, also observed that Inslee’s net job approval rating has increased twenty-nine points over the past ten weeks, demonstrating that Washingtonians are satisfied with Inslee’s management of the novel coronavirus pandemic, which has whacked Washington’s economy.
What the data suggests to us is that Washington voters are increasingly comfortable with keeping Inslee in the state’s top job while totally underwhelmed by the Washington State Republican Party’s historically awful field of candidates.
Republicans like Caleb Heimlich have claimed that Jay Inslee is vulnerable and unpopular, but that is clearly just wishful thinking on their part.
Despite no evidence to support their position, they continue to cling to the fantasy that they’re on the verge of turning the state red, with RNC Chair Romna McDaniel insisting to right wing talk show host Jason Rantz recently that
KING5’s pollster also polled on the Lieutenant Governor’s race and the Attorney General’s race. For Lieutenant Governor, SurveyUSA found a small plurality for United States Representative Denny Heck, who was the leader among the Democratic candidates. That finding broke down as follows:
- Denny Heck, Democrat: 15%
- Joseph Brumbles, Republican: 10%
- Steve Hobbs, Democrat: 10% (Hobbs has withdrawn from the race)
- Ann Davison Sattler, Republican: 9%
- Marko Liias, Democrat: 6%
- Undecided: 50%
For Attorney General, SurveyUSA found Bob Ferguson in a commanding position.
- Bob Ferguson, Democrat (incumbent): 47%
- Matt Larkin, Republican: 8%
- Brett Rogers, Republican: 8%
- Mike Vaska, Republican: 4%
- Undecided: 32%
SurveyUSA apparently did not ask voters about the statewide partisan race that is likely to be the most competitive this year — the contest between Republican Kim Wyman and NPI’s Gael Tarleton, Wyman’s Democratic challenger, for Secretary of State. That’s the executive department position that oversees elections, corporations, charities, the state archives, and the state library.
3 Comments
Our state is locked down without freedom of assembly. We can’t even gather to discuss and meet candidates. Inslee will lock us down to Nov to keep us from any other choice.
Incorrect on all counts, April.
With respect to in-person gatherings: Even before the recent mass protests supporting Black Lives Matter and social justice, people who disagreed with Governor Inslee’s stay home, stay healthy orders were congregating in violation of his directives and they weren’t being punished.
With respect to gathering to discuss and meeting candidates: this is an activity that can and has been taking place online. Candidates are doing virtual campaign kickoffs and meet ‘n greets. Organizations like CityClub have moved their events (like Civic Cocktail) onto virtual venues like Zoom.
With respect to the duration of the stay home, stay healthy orders: Restrictions are gradually being lifted through what is being called Safe Start on a county-by-county basis. Many counties have already exited Phase I. The governor has no interest in keeping the restrictions imposed in March in place through the November election.
Right wingers aren’t going to like what’s going to happen to them this November. We’re fed up with the corruption of Donald Trump and his Republican enablers all over the country, and we will be voting them out. If you think this and other credible poll data is “fake news”, wait until we get to the fall and you see the election results!