The main stream media has been abuzz with the ability of Rho Khanna (D) to raise over $3.2 million to unseat the incumbent Mike Honda (D). Rho lives in the East Bay and was a mid-level member of the Obama administration. Honda so far received about $1.1 million.
However, with the latest poll conducted by Democracy for America, Honda is 19% ahead of Rho and 16% ahead of a Republican challenger. The latest poll results can be reviewed in the following link -
http://www.indiawest.com/news/17232-new-poll-shows-honda-leading-indian-american-competitors-in-hot-race.html17
LSI also had commissioned a poll asking Vietnamese-Americans about the name recognition of each candidate. A poll, conducted by a private foundation - Viet Polling Media, asked 217 Vietnamese-Americans in D17 whether they recognize Mike Honda, Rho Khanna and Vanila Singh.
The result is 65% either recognize who is Mike Honda or familiar with his name. Vanila Singh is not known at all in the community while Rho Khanna is familiar in 9% of the population. The margin of error is 5%.
Khanna hired some Vietnamese-Americans to help him get closer to the Vietnamese-American voters. Nevertheless, their lack of credibility with the community ends up hurting Rho more than helping him.
LSI is not a gambler but with this kind of name recognition in the community, it is safe to predict that Khanna will not even make a dent in the Vietnamese-American voting blocs that will most likely favor Honda.
