John Politician Climbs in the Polls After Promising to Cut Taxes

LOS SANTOS: A week ago John Politician was polling at 13 percent. Today the Mirror Park Polling Institute has him at 22, five points ahead of Jock Cranley, and he has passed Cranley for second place in the SA Wire polling average.

Politician, a Republican, is at 20.4 percent in the average, up from 2.5 percent last week. Charles Dickson leads with 25.4 and Jock Cranley has fallen to third at 17.6. Dax Corvin is fourth at 14.8, Potts is at 13.6 and Dover at 2.6.

The climb started when Politician promised to cut taxes. At a rally outside a Mirror Park laundromat on Friday, he said he would scrap the state income tax for anyone earning under $80,000, oppose Proposition 7's $1 gas tax, and "take the tax off the stuff you actually buy." He did not say how the state would pay for it.

"Finally someone said it"

Voters at the rally said the tax pledge was the reason they came. "I fill up twice a week. Every other candidate wants to talk about rockets or wildfires," said Darnell Reyes, a delivery driver from Strawberry. "He's the only one who said he'd give me money back."

"I didn't know who he was on Monday," said Linda Okafor, who runs a nail salon in Little Seoul. "Then he said no income tax, and I signed up to knock on doors."

His campaign says it has taken in more small donations this week than in the rest of the race combined. It would not give a number.

The radio is still in the ads

Politician first ran on shorter radio traffic. One ad asks, "Tired of Terry Potts hogging the radio?" Another says, "I don't like J. Hamby. Isn't that enough reason to vote for me?" The fine print says he does not own a radio. His new ads say "Less yapping. Lower taxes."

The other campaigns were not impressed. A Dover spokesperson said the plan "isn't a plan, it's a slogan," which repeats Dover's complaint that the race has become "a competition over who has the best slogan." The Potts campaign said Politician "talks about the radio more than anyone on it."

Pollsters warn the rise may not last. "Most of his support is soft," said a researcher at Del Perro Research, whose Saturday poll had him at 20 percent. "A tax cut gets attention. Voters will want to know what it costs."

Election day has not been set.