Thursday, July 8, 2010

Kentucky 2011

It looks like Steve Beshear could have a tough fight for reelection as Kentucky's Governor in 2011, with a pair of potential Republican opponents polling within the margin of error against him.

Beshear leads recently defeated Republican Senate candidate Trey Grayson 41-38 and trails Agriculture Commissioner Richie Farmer 40-39.

Voters are pretty ambivalent toward Beshear right now with 38% approving of his job performance, 35% disapproving, and 26% holding no opinion one way or the other. Those numbers are actually pretty decent given that in May we found the average Governor nationally has a 47% disapproval rating, but they still show him pretty vulnerable to a challenge next year.

Farmer, a former Kentucky basketball player, has exceptional personal favorability numbers. 39% of voters in the state have a favorable opinion of him while 14% see him unfavorably. That +25 spread is better than PPP has found for any challenger running in a Senate or Gubernatorial race across the country in 2010. Farmer has very positive numbers with Democrats, Republicans, and independents alike.

Grayson's numbers are not as impressive with 24% of voters holding a favorable opinion of him and 21% viewing him unfavorably. It's worth noting though that the +3 spread is a lot better than -8 we found for Rand Paul on this poll, a reminder that Republicans would probably be headed for an easy victory in the Senate race this fall if they had nominated the 'safe' candidate.

Despite Farmer being so much more popular than Grayson he doesn't fare all that much better in a head to head because Democrats liking him doesn't necessarily translate into their being willing to vote for him as Governor. Tom Osborne learned the hard way in the 2006 Nebraska Governor's race that no matter how popular you may be in a sports context it won't necessarily carry over to politics.

Kentucky is probably not very representative of the country as a whole but this race is going to get a ton of national attention next fall for what it might tell us about the mood of the electorate headed into 2012 and for now it looks like it has the potential to be a very close race. Another Beshear blowout on scale with what he did in 2007 is not very likely.

Full results here

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

1) How do you weight your surveys?
2) What is your response rate?
3) How much does each phone call cost?

Christian Liberty said...

Nationally, 75% of voters blame state budget deficits on TOO MUCH GOVERNMENT SPENDING.

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/business/taxes/july_2010/75_blame_state_budget_problems_on_politicians_unwillingness_to_cut_spending

69% are unwilling to pay higher taxes for more government services.

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/business/general_business/july_2010/most_americans_not_willing_to_pay_higher_taxes_for_public_employees_entitlement_programs

When supermajorities clearly favor fiscal conservatism, taxpayers will reject Democrats' attempts to buy votes with taxpayer money.

Christian Liberty said...

"the mood of the electorate headed into 2012"

Marist:

50% of RV say Obama has FALLEN BELOW their expectations. When asked what direction Obama is moving the country, 38% say better, 38% say worse, 21% no change. (No change would indicate president Obama failed to deliver on campaign promises.)

When asked if they approve or disapprove of how Obama is handling the economy, 48% disapprove. 46% approve.

Gallup:

Obama approval with independents has fallen below 40%. Overall approval negative (44/48).

Pew:

Would you like to see most members of Congress reelected in the next election? Yes 31% / No 56%

Rasmussen:

Investor confidence in the economy has fallen to a new low for the year 2010.

Approval index for Obama for the month of June fell to a new low for his term.

56% oppose the Obama administration's challenge of Arizona immigration enforcement. 61% want a law like Arizona's for their own state.

--> If Obama doesn't RUN sharply to the right, it will be his ONLY term in office.

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/var/plain/storage/images/media/obama_monthly_totals_graphics/monthly_approval_index_june_2010/328102-1-eng-US/monthly_approval_index_june_2010.jpg

Christian Liberty said...

"the mood of the electorate headed into 2012"

Democracy Corps:

56% of likely voters agree that Obama is "too liberal"

55% of likely voters agree that Obama is a "socialist"

--> The mood of the electorate going into 2012 is that Obama is a socialist extremist.

 
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