The News-Sentinel and News Channel 15 contracted with Research 2000, a nonpartisan polling firm based in Maryland, to conduct a pre-election survey in the 3rd Congressional District, which includes Fort Wayne.

The local Republican Party chair called a 16-point margin in the local gubernatorial poll indicative of Gov. Mitch Daniels' popularity statewide. Democrat Jill Long Thompson's campaign said the polls aren't the final results come Election Day.

In a poll of District 3 likely voters, 53 percent said if the election were held the day they were polled, they would vote for Daniels; 37 percent said they would vote for his opponent, Long Thompson.

“It's a rejection of Jill Long (Thompson) in her own home area,” said Steve Shine, Allen County Republican party chairman. Long Thompson previously served the northeast Indiana region as a U.S. representative.

Daniels' campaign spokesman, Cam Savage, said the election still is not over and they are not going to give up campaigning - and neither is the Long Thompson campaign.

“Jill really does have a strong presence in northeast Indiana,” her campaign spokesman, Jeff Harris, said.