Donald Trump's crudeness and volatility has created a surge in Utah for an independent Mormon candidate.
While Hillary Clinton may benefit from the disenchantment with Trump, Evan McMullin is the one attracting attention. He's a Brigham Young University graduate, former CIA officer, investment banker and congressional aide.
Despite about half the state not knowing who he is, McMullin has a profile that reassures voters as a Utah-born, straight-arrow Mormon Republican.
The polling firm Y2K Analytics surveyed 500 likely Utah voters this week and found McMullin narrowly trailing Trump and Clinton, who were tied. The poll's margin of sampling error is plus or minus 4.4 percentage points.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has declined to get involved, but the church-owned Deseret News newspaper published a scathing editorial Saturday calling for Trump to step aside.
McMullin, who didn't enter the presidential race until August, will be on the ballot in Utah and ten other states.