INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Democratic gubernatorial candidates Jill Long Thompson and Jim Schellinger were locked in a virtual dead heat but nearly half of all likely voters in their party’s primary remained undecided 16 days before the May 6 primary, a poll published Sunday showed.

Among Hoosiers who said they would vote in the Democratic primary, The Indianapolis Star-WTHR-TV poll showed 28 percent favoring Schellinger and 26 percent backing Long Thompson with 46 percent of voters who remained undecided when the poll was conducted April 20. The survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.2 percentage points.

The latest poll showed a greater number of undecided voters than a survey published April 4. In that poll of 400 likely Democratic primary voters, 42 percent said they would vote for Long Thompson, 41 percent favored Schellinger, and 17 percent were undecided. That poll, commissioned for news organizations in South Bend, Fort Wayne and Indianapolis, had a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points.

The latest poll also found incumbent Gov. Mitch Daniels’ approval and disapproval ratings improving among likely general election voters since a poll in November.

Daniels now has a 47 percent approval rating, up from 40 percent, while his disapproval rating has fallen to 40 percent from 50 percent.

The poll shows likely Democratic voters are far more committed to the two presidential candidates than to either Schellinger or Long Thompson. The proportion of undecided voters in the governor’s race is more than twice the 21 percent in the presidential contest.

Posted 4/18/2008