Wednesday, December 26, 2007

McConnell's 51% Approval Rating Silences Demo-Blogs For Now

We haven't heard much from the Demo-blogs about the approval ratings for Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell since Survey USA/WHAS 11 released their latest poll numbers on December 22. And no wonder.

This survey "shows a huge turnaround" in McConnell's popularity, according to WHAS 11's Mark Hebert. He reports that 51% of Kentucky voters in the survey voiced approval of the job McConnell is doing.

Survey USA's number is likely a significant underestimate of McConnell's support, given that this polling group historically registers higher numbers for Democrats in Kentucky than that found in other polls. For example, Survey USA reported much lower approval ratings for McConnell in its November poll -- the source of Hebert's "huge turnaround" characterization of McConnell's latest showing.

Moreover, the latest Survey USA poll had Senator Hillary Clinton defeating every major Republican candidate in a head-to-head match-up. If McConnell is ahead in a voting sample that favors Hillary for President, then McConnell must really be popular.

These results cannot be good news for the announced Democratic Senatorial candidates, who already had their hands full trying to dissuade Bruce Lunsford and Greg Fischer from joining the race. According to the Demo-blogs, Lunsford's and Fischer's unpardonable sins are that they are businessmen who have donated to Republicans -- including, in Lunsford's case, to Senator McConnell himself. The horror!

The Survey USA poll also shows that the economy and health care are the top two issues for Kentucky voters. In this regard, the lawyer-physician Dr. Michael Cassaro, Esq., may have a leg up on Lt. Col. Andrew Horne, who will need a crash course to learn what to say other than "'Iraq Iraq Katrina Bush Iraq Bush war war war.'”

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