Poll: Voters Not Familiar with Candidates

(AP) _ A new Winthrop University poll shows thepublic barely knows the eight candidates running for governor inSouth Carolina. The Winthrop Poll released Thursday shows at least 65 percent ofDemocrats were unfamiliar with their field of four candidates. Among Republicans, Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer emerged as the onlycandidates who was known well enough by nearly half of the votersfor them to form an a good or bad opinion _ and those voters werenot familiar with his three competitors. Observers say that means candidates will have to spend a lot ofmoney before June 8 to get better known. The telephone poll with 837 adults responding was conducted Feb.6-21 and has a margin of sampling error of 3.4 percentage points. (Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)