U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz says his intent if elected in November is to help make sure the federal budget reflects Hawaii’s priorities.

Schatz and the other Democrats in the state’s congressional delegation have fought to preserve federal spending for Hawaii since the death of U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye, a challenge given the automatic federal spending cuts due to sequestration and the crackdown on earmarks.

"We’ve always been dependent on federal investment," Schatz said. "But I think there are two areas that we need to focus in particular. The first is in making sure that we get rid of the sequester.

"And the second is in making sure that those institutions that are critical for our economy and for our moving forward continue to get the attention that they deserve, so that’s the Department of Defense and the Joint Base at Pearl Harbor-Hickam; that’s our research programs at the University of Hawaii, the East-West Center and our energy partnerships, to name a few."

After a close, emotional victory over U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa in the Democratic primary, Schatz has a sizable lead over Cam Cavasso, a former state lawmaker who is the Republican nominee, in the November general election. A new Hawaii Poll has Schatz over Cavasso 71 percent to 20 percent, with 10 percent undecided.

Schatz’s favorable rating — 63 percent — is tied with state Rep. K. Mark Takai, a Democrat running for Congress, for the best among the dozen politicians measured in the poll. Cavasso’s favorable rating was 19 percent, but 61 percent said they had never heard of or do not know enough about him.

The Hawaii Poll was conducted by Ward Research Inc. for the Honolulu Star-Advertiser and Hawaii News Now. The results are based on cellphone and landline interviews with 605 likely voters Oct. 11-18. The margin of error was plus or minus 4 percentage points.

Schatz, 42, was appointed by Gov. Neil Abercrombie to replace Inouye, former chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. The election is for the remaining two years of Inouye’s six-year term and runs through 2016.

Nationally, Republicans could take the Senate from Democrats, which, coupled with GOP control of the House, would further handcuff Hawaii-born President Barack Obama in the remaining two years of his second term.

"I think one of the reasons that it’s important for the Senate to remain in Democratic control is that the Republican Party nationally is increasingly controlled by people with not just an ideologically extreme agenda, but also a disinclination toward compromise," Schatz said.

Schatz, who was endorsed by Obama in the primary, said the role of Senate Democrats is "not to agree with him necessarily on every issue, but rather to move forward together, to forge compromises, and even when we find that we disagree, to do so without being disagreeable. And I think that the last couple of years have been extraordinarily bitter and partisan.

"And it’s important to have people in the Congress who have demonstrated an ability to work across the aisle."

Cavasso, 64, an anti-abortion, free-market conservative who believes in a smaller federal government, ran unsuccessfully against Inouye in 2004 and 2010.

Cavasso would seek a Hawaii exemption from the Jones Act, the federal maritime law that protects the domestic shipping industry from foreign competition. Many critics of the law contend it contributes to Hawaii’s high cost of living, although defenders insist it helps ensure a reliable flow of consumer goods from the mainland.

Cavasso opposes Common Core, the new set of national education standards, as a threat to state and local control over public schools. He is critical of the federal grant money that went to UH for Pono Choices, a pilot sex-education curriculum for middle-schoolers which many parents found too graphic.

He would also abandon the Hawaii Health Connector, the state’s struggling insurance exchange under the federal health care reform law.

Cavasso believes in term limits and would only serve the remaining two years of Inouye’s term and, if re-elected, one full six-year term. He said it would be a "terrible disservice" to Hawaii not to have a Republican in the Senate if Republicans take power.

"Brian Schatz will be a junior member of a minority, which is essentially powerless to really influence Washington, D.C., for Hawaii’s benefit and protection," he said.