UPDATE: Wilcox's spokesman has responded to the poll. See updates below.
A recent poll solicited by Congressional candidate Ruben Gallego reveals that he's eight points ahead of his primary challenger, Mary Rose Wilcox.
The survey released by Camp Gallego finds that Gallego has 32 percent of voters on his side, while Wilcox has 24 percent.
The other Democratic candidates in the race for Arizona's 7th Congressional District shared a mere 6 percent of the vote -- Randy Camacho with 4 percent and the Reverend Jarrett Maupin with 2 percent.
Independent Jose Penalosa and Libertarian Joe Cobb also are running for the CD7 seat.
See also: -Ruben Gallego Ahead of Mary Rose Wilcox in Congressional Race, Poll Says -Gallego Responds to Name-Change Complaint
We've got a call into Wilcox's campaign spokesman for their take on the survey, and to see whether they've conducted any of their own polling.
The survey also details that Gallego's favorable rating is now at 51 percent, up from an earlier survey conducted in May that indicated only 43 percent of Democrats likely to vote in CD7 had a favorable opinion of him.
By comparison, the Gallego-funded poll shows that voters' favorable opinion of Wilcox has dropped from 48 percent to 40. And voters' unfavorable opinion of the former Maricopa County Supervisor has gone up three points -- from 27 to 30 percent.
Similarly, Gallego's unfavorable rating increased from 6 percent to 11 percent.
Lake Research Partners conducted the 400-person survey from July 20 to July 22 by contacting people on their cell and landline phones. There is a +/- 4.9 percent margin of error.
Gallego's campaign claims that the survey shows that "Gallego has strengthened his position since the spring and that Wilcox's attacks on Gallego have backfired, damaging her own favorability ratings without affecting Gallego's. As the campaign heads into its final month it is clear that given the resources, Gallego is in a strong position to win this race."
UPDATE July 29: Sam Castañeda Holdren, a spokesman for Mary Rose Wilcox's campaign for U.S. Congress, says that a recent poll showing her eight points behind really only shows that the race is anyone's to win.
It appears 38 percent of voters are undecided, according to Gallego's poll.
"If you take that poll at face value, 'undecided' is in first place. That tells us this race is wide open," he says. "But what we're actually hearing from the people that we're talking to everyday at their doors and on the phone is that Mary Rose is someone they can trust."
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