Utah Senate Primary: Hatch 60, Liljenquist 32

A new poll from Deseret News and KSL-TV shows Republican senator Orrin Hatch of Utah leading his primary challenger, Dan Liljenquist, by nearly 30 points. The Utah primary is tomorrow, June 26. The News reports:

Sixty percent of the registered voters in Utah polled who said they will vote in the Republican primary backed Hatch's bid for a seventh term in the U.S. Senate. Just under one-third of the respondents, 32 percent, said they supported Liljenquist.

The poll, conducted June 15-21 by Dan Jones & Associates, has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.6 percent.

"Those are very good numbers for the senator," Hatch's campaign manager, Dave Hansen, said. "It's nice that the voters of Utah, the Republican voters, have that much confidence and support for him."

Hatch very nearly avoided a primary after coming short of winning the state party's endorsement at its convention in April.