Maxfield dismissed the poll, saying similar voter surveys were proven unreliable after his 24-point victory over Republican incumbent Lance Malone in the primary. A Harrah's poll in July indicated Malone was ahead of Maxfield by 16 percentage points. A week before that election, a poll showed Maxfield even with Malone, but ultimately Maxfield said he defied the polls and the local political pundits by trouncing Malone. He added that earlier polls didn't reflect the strong grass-roots effort that his campaign coordinated before the primary, and the most recent poll can't gauge the depth and determination of his core supporters. We are running a grass-roots campaign.
Polls are polls.
It just means we keep working hard, and remember, I am going up against a woman who has incredible name recognition in this area. The poll also showed that Tarkanian is leading among undecided voters, and that the three-term Clark County School District trustee and wife of former University of Nevada, Las Vegas basketball coach Jerry Tarkanian is much better known among voters. Thirty-five percent of those polled said they had a favorable opinion of Maxfield while 20 percent said they had an unfavorable opinion of him. Forty-seven percent said they had a favorable opinion of Tarkanian compared to 27 percent unfavorable. Tarkanian couldn't be reached late Tuesday.