Tussling toward midterms: National Journal’s PollTrack notes that as we move into the last of the midterm primaries, several races are making for interesting political drama — if you like that kind of stuff — and we do.
PollTrack analyzed recent poll numbers for four of the more hotly contested races with upcoming primaries:
- Connecticut Senate: In perhaps the most closely watched primary race of the cycle, Democratic Sen. Joe Lieberman is enjoying a 25-point lead among state Democrats over his anti-war primary challenger Ned Lamont, according to a Quinnipiac University survey conducted a little over a month ago. The results dovetail with Lieberman’s approval ratings among likely Democratic voters; about the same percentage — 56 percent — who would vote for Lieberman in the Aug. 8 primary said they approved of the job he is doing.
Pollsters also tested a hypothetical three-way matchup with Lamont as the Democratic nominee and Lieberman running as an independent. In that scenario, pollsters found Lieberman would win with 56 percent — but Lamont would garner about a third of the Democratic vote.
- Florida Senate: Despite the recent turmoil surrounding her campaign, Republican Rep. Katherine Harris remains the front-runner for her party’s nomination in the latest Quinnipiac University survey. A plurality of the likely voters surveyed, however, said they were still undecided when presented with Harris and three other GOP candidates. In a general election matchup, incumbent Sen. Bill Nelson (D) leads all the GOP hopefuls with nearly 60 percent of the vote. Another poll from Strategic Vision (R) also favors Harris for the GOP nomination and Nelson in the general.
- Georgia Governor: Today’s Democratic primary, which will decide whether Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor or Secretary of State Cathy Cox will face incumbent first-term Gov. Sonny Perdue (R) in the general, promises to be a nail-biter. In a dramatic turnaround from the earliest days of the race, Taylor has steadily inched his way up the polls and now leads Cox, 49 percent to 41 percent, in the latest Insider Advantage/Majority Opinion survey. But Cox has also experienced a bump in support over the past month as the number of undecided voters in the Peach State has dwindled.
- Missouri Senate: With state auditor Claire McCaskill running solo in the Aug. 8 Democratic primary, the real story in Missouri — ranked the No. 3 Senate race in the nation by Hotline’s Chuck Todd — is the general election. The latest Research 2000 poll shows the candidates in close competition, with McCaskill edging out incumbent Sen. Jim Talent (R) by just 6 points.
Connect:
Is this important? I mean, I will be voting, but I am unconvinced that my vote will not be mere pissing in the wind. I have no confidence in our current election system. I believe that the last two presidential and countless lesser elections have been rigged, and I see no compelling reason for this not to continue as long as those in power can brush off those concerned as “fringe loonies.”
Be sure to check out this streaming video from tonight’s lieberman/lamont debate.
Kevin, do you live in Ohio? I live in Florida, and my experience in the 2000 and 2004 elections has given me a very different attitude toward voting than yours. I find the election process to be more interesting and find it much more rewarding to stay abreast of what’s happening in elections all over the country. And, if we pay attention, it will harder for the bastards to steal elections and prevent citizens from voting.