POLL: The Senate’s Most Powerful Republican Is The Nation’s Least Popular Senator

POLL: The Senate’s Most Powerful Republican Is The Nation’s Least Popular Senator

Another poll shows Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) in a statistical tie with the likely Democratic challenger for his Senate seat, Kentucky secretary of state Alison Lundergan Grimes.

The Senate Minority Leader only leads Grimes by 1 point with 15 percent undecided, according to a new survey from Public Policy Polling.

And that isn’t even close to the most disturbing number for the senator in the poll.

McConnell’s favorable-to-unfavorable rating of 31 percent to 61 percent doesn’t just make him the nation’s least popular senator, it makes him as popular in his home state as President Obama, even though Mitt Romney won Kentucky by more than 20 percent.

The minority leader has formed an alliance with the family of the far more popular Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) to fend off a primary challenge from Tea Partier Matt Bevin, hiring the Pauls’ former confidant and relative-by-marriage Jesse Benton to run his campaign.

But the Paul connection has McConnell slightly caught up in a scandal lingering from the 2012 Iowa Caucus. And while McConnell has a huge lead over Bevin, Kentucky voters don’t seem to buy the alliance:

Do you think Rand Paul supports Mitch McConnell for re-election to the US Senate, or not?

Think he does …………………………………………. 30%

Think he does not …………………………………….  32%

Not sure ………………………………………………..  38%

Senator Paul has endorsed McConnell, but recently referred to Bevin as  a “good, honest, Christian man.” After he made that statement, Benton issued a something of a retraction on the senator’s behalf, asserting that Paul didn’t know Bevin well.

Earlier this year, Benton told an acquaintance that he was “sorta holding” his nose to work for McConnell because it was going to “be a big benefit for Rand in ’16…”

McConnell’s attack ads on Grimes have already hurt her favorability but with one-third of voters still “not sure” of their opinion of the Democratic challenger, she still has an opportunity to make her case. Grimes is young — only 35 years old — but she’s proven she can produce charming ads and go after her opponent in fiery and funny speeches even in a contentious environment.

The next few months will show if the very unpopular’s McConnell’s go-to tactic of destroying his opponent’s image can still work when his own image is about as bad as it can get.

From Your Site Articles

Start your day with National Memo Newsletter

Know first.

The opinions that matter. Delivered to your inbox every morning

How A Stuttering President Confronts A Right-Wing Bully

Donald Trump mocks Joe Biden’s stutter,” the headlines blare, and I am confronted (again) with (more) proof that the presumptive Republican presidential nominee hates people like me.

Keep reading...Show less
Trump at Trump Tower

Former President Donald Trump at Trump Tower in Manhattan

NEW YORK, March 25 (Reuters) - Donald Trump faces a Monday deadline to post a bond to cover a $454 million civil fraud judgment or face the risk of New York state seizing some of his marquee properties.Trump, seeking to regain the presidency this year, must either pay the money out of his own pocket or post a bond while he appeals Justice Arthur Engoron's February 16 judgment against him for manipulating his net worth and his family real estate company's property values to dupe lenders and insurers.

Keep reading...Show less
{{ post.roar_specific_data.api_data.analytics }}