The new statewide Hawaii Poll is out and it answers a lot of questions about the state of local political races.

The poll was taken between Feb. 1-11 by Ward Research for the Honolulu Star-Advertiser and Hawaii News Now.

A total of 528 likely voters were called. Half of the calls were made to cellphones and half to land lines. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.3 percent.

The poll shows U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa ahead of U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz in the Democratic primary race for the U.S. Senate. Among 272 urban Honolulu 1st Congressional District respondents, state Senate President Donna Mercado Kim also was strongly in front of state Rep. K. Mark Takai in the primary contest.

Here are four things to take away from the poll data.

The first is that a major cog in Schatz’s campaign strategy, massive labor support, has not developed. In fact, Hanabusa enjoys nearly two-to-one support among voters who say they are union members.

During the fall, Schatz sent out a campaign memo noting that Hawaii has "one of the highest percentages of unionized workers in the country," boasting that his campaign held a strong lead in union endorsements. As former Mayor Mufi Hannemann’s loss four years ago in the Democratic gubernatorial primary shows, the blessing of labor’s head honchos does not always translate into support among the rank and file.

No. 2: There is a profound split in ethnic support. Schatz has 61 percent of the Caucasian voters and Hanabusa has 55 percent of the Japanese-American voters. By way of comparison, even during the hard-fought Democratic primary four years ago, Neil Abercrombie and Hannemann almost split the Caucasian voters and among AJA voters, Abercrombie had only a 39 to 29 percent advantage, so the ethic divide among Schatz and Hanabusa is all the more startling and could make for a volatile closing campaign.

No. 3: Never underestimate the importance of name recognition.

Voters vote for people they know. You don’t vote for people you’ve never heard of and neither do other voters.

The Hawaii Poll shows that both Hanabusa and Kim both enjoy strong name recognition and that helps their campaigns.

Of course, you could be well known because everybody thinks you are a jerk, but that is not the case with Hanabusa and Kim. They both are viewed favorably, with Hanabusa boasting a 62 percent favorability rating, and Kim at 49 percent.

Also, only 3 percent of the voters said they have never heard of Hanabusa, while 13 percent say they don’t recognize Schatz, and that includes 17 percent of the Caucasian voters. Again, in comparison, not a single AJA voter reported not recognizing Hanabusa. Much of that is because of the major role played by Hanabusa in shaping state legislation as a committee chairwoman and Senate president, while Schatz was rarely a major legislative figure.

Finally, among the many demographic breakdowns the poll provides, three of the most important are support by AJA voters, because they are reliable primary election voters; support by those over 55 because that group also turns out to vote; and finally union members, because they vote and are an easily politicized group.

Kim wins the age group with 39 percent of the over 55 crowd and also tops the union membership list with 28 percent, but she loses to Rep. K. Mark Takai among AJA voters, 30 percent to 40 percent.

Hanabusa looks stronger, wining AJA voters, the 55-and-older crowd and union members.

While polls are snapshots, not predictions, this edition of the Hawaii Poll is likely to cause opponents of both Hanabusa and Kim to restudy their campaign strategy.