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| Sestak, Dead Cat Bounce? - PA Sen Poll: Toomey +7 |
| 2010-06-04 |
| Congressman Joe Sestak's post-primary bounce appears to over, and he now trails Republican rival Pat Toomey by seven points in the U.S. Senate contest in Pennsylvania. A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Voters in Pennsylvania shows Toomey with 45% support, while Sestak earns 38%. Five percent (5%) prefer another candidate in the race, and 12% are undecided. Two weeks ago, just after his widely covered primary victory over longtime Senator Arlen Specter, Sestak posted a modest four-point lead lead over Toomey. Prior to the primary, however, Toomey tended to enjoy modest leads over Sestak. The current polling shows that 19% of Democratic voters are undecided or prefer some other candidate. Only 7% of Republicans fall into this category. That suggests Sestak has some work remaining to unify his party following the primary battle. (Want a free daily e-mail update? If it's in the news, it's in our polls). Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter or Facebook. This statewide telephone survey of 500 Likely Voters in Pennsylvania was conducted on June 2, 2010 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/-4.5 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology. Nearly three-out-of-four voters in the state say they have been following news stories about the secret Obama White House job offer to Sestak in hopes that he would drop his primary challenge of Specter, and 52% say that offer is at least somewhat important in terms of how they will vote. Forty-one percent (41%) view the job offer as unimportant. This includes 29% for whom it is Very Important and 20% who say it's Not At All Important. Sixty-nine percent (69%) of those who say the offer is Very Important to their vote prefer Toomey. Sixty-one percent (61%) of voters who regard it as Not At All Important favor Sestak. Fifty-six percent (56%) of all the state's voters favor repeal of the national health care bill that Sestak voted for as a member of the House, while 38% oppose repeal. This is slightly lower than support for repeal nationally. In Pennsylvania, this includes 42% who Strongly Favor repeal of the bill and 28% who Strongly Oppose. Toomey earns 81% support from those who Strongly Favor repeal. Sestak picks up 80% of the vote of the smaller group that is Strongly Opposed. The Republican now holds similar modest leads among both male and female voters. Voters not affiliated with either party strongly prefer Toomey but 34% of the unaffiliateds remain uncommitted to either candidate. Sestak, a former Navy admiral who is currently a first-term congressman from the Philadelphia suburbs, is viewed Very Favorably by 16% of Pennsylvania voters and Very Unfavorably by 16%. For Toomey, a conservative activist and former congressman, Very Favorables are 21% and Very Unfavorables 13%. At this point in a campaign, Rasmussen Reports considers the number of people with strong opinions more significant than the total favorable/unfavorable numbers. Forty-eight percent (48%) of voters in Pennsylvania now approve of the job President Obama is doing, while 52% disapprove. This is basically unchanged from two weeks ago |
| Posted by:GolfBravoUSMC |