Is Orrin Hatch in Trouble With Utah Republicans?

The poll was commissioned by the right-wing Senate Conservatives Fund, which seeks to elect Republicans in the mold of Utah Sen. Mike Lee, who has been a top recipient of the group’s campaign donations. The survey found that 72 percent of likely GOP caucus/primary voters in Utah view Hatch favorably. The poll then posed a leading question, noting that Hatch has been in the Senate for 40 years and promised in 2012 not to run again. In response, 74 percent of those questioned said Hatch should retire, while 17 percent said he should run again in 2018. “Sen. Orrin Hatch has done some good things, but after 40 years in the Senate, Utah Republicans think it’s time for him to retire,” said former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, the president of the group that funded the poll. “Hatch promised in his last campaign that this would be his last term, but now he’s thinking about breaking that pledge and says voters are encouraging him to do it. That may be true, but the Utah Republicans who truly want him to run again are a very small minority. Most think it’s time for him to retire.”