The GOP Senate Contenders

Republicans certainly have the opportunity for a big year in Senate races, but for now most of their candidates aren't exactly lighting the world on fire. Only 1 out of 11 major Republican Senate contenders (Mike Castle) we've polled on since November has been viewed favorably by more than 35% of the voters in their state. And 5 of the 11 have had negative favorability numbers.

The polling success Republicans are having in a lot of these races has a lot more to do with the Democratic candidate(s) being unpopular than it does with the voters liking who the GOP's put forth. If the current political climate holds forth all the way through November that might not matter- the Republicans could win based just on the unpopularity of the Democrats. But if things do shift at all back in a Democratic direction few of the GOP candidates are strong enough to win on their own merits. It'll be interesting to see how it shakes out.

Here are the full numbers:

Candidate	Favorability Numbers
Mike Castle (Delaware)	55/28
Charlie Crist (Florida)	35/51
Danny Tarkanian (Nevada)	33/24
John Boozman (Arkansas)	32/25
Marco Rubio (Florida)	31/32
Roy Blunt (Missouri)	30/38
Sue Lowden (Nevada)	29/22
Mark Kirk (Illinois)	27/22
Rob Simmons (Connecticut)	27/24
Linda McMahon (Connecticut)	26/29
Jane Norton (Colorado)	25/35