Hirono Internal Poll Shows 17-Point Lead

Mazie Hirono’s pollster has released the results of a survey showing her with a 54 percent to 37 percent lead over Linda Lingle.

The poll was conducted in mid-September by the Benenson Strategy Group, which has worked for Hirono before. Internal polls should generally be taken with a grain of salt because they’re only released when they favor the candidate who pays for the survey and the campaign does not release full questionnaires, demographics or crosstabs.

It should be noted that The Civil Beat Poll found Hirono with a very similar 55-39 lead in a survey taken about a week after the Benenson poll.

Lingle’s campaign has yet to publicly release internal polling numbers since the Aug. 11 primary election.

— Michael Levine