Even if they’re discussing these issues, voters may evaluate their stances to be inferior to Reade’s. We need something that tells us voters care less about such discussions than they care about competence and trustworthiness.

We don’t care what Reade’s opponents think, since we’re trying to explain why Reade is ahead in the polls. We’re more interested in what Reade's supporters find appealing.

We don’t care what will happen to Reade’s popularity later on. Maria is making an argument about what factors contribute to Reade's current lead.

Since voters can’t identify Reade’s positions on campaign issues, they evidently haven’t been paying too much attention to those issues. This supports the idea that Reade must be ahead in the polls for some other reason, such as the one Maria gives.

First, we have no idea how many "some" means here, so we have no idea if this represents voters in general. Second, even if it did, this still doesn't tell us if that's the main reason for voters' support of Reade.