Oklahoma Poll gives insight into Tulsa's mayors race

Friday, October 14th 2005, 2:31 pm

By: News On 6

A new Oklahoma Poll from The News On 6 and the Tulsa World shows Mayor Bill LaFortune's approval rating slipping but he's running well ahead of the competition in his race for re-election.

Our survey of voters shows the mayor with an early lead among voters likely to go to the polls in next year's Republican primary but lots of people are undecided.

If voting today, 39 percent of Republicans say they'd support Mayor LaFortune. 13 percent say they would vote for City Councilor Chris Medlock, five percent for Bill Christiansen and Randi Miller. But, nearly 40 percent are undecided so there are still a lot of votes up for grabs in the coming campaign.

Among all voters, the mayor enjoys a relatively strong approval rating but it has declined since we conducted our last poll in April. Voters are evenly split on the mayor's nearest challenger.

58 percent of all voters say they approve of the mayor's job performance. That's a two percent decline since April and an eight percent increase in those who disapprove of the way he's doing his job.

However, the mayor's nearest challenger, Councilor Chris Medlock has a bigger problem with voters. 38 percent say they disapprove of his performance while 34 percent say they approve.

The margin of error in this poll is 5 percent. Look for more detail and analysis in Sunday's Tulsa World.