Opinion: Poll news for Nevada’s Democrat Harry Reid: 62% there don’t like incumbents or the healthcare bill
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A new state poll of Nevadans out Monday from Rasmussen Reports confirms what has become increasingly clear in recent weeks: American voters are angry about numerous things and their prime targets of opportunity in 2010 are incumbents.
According to the new poll, fully 62% of Nevadans think it would be a good thing if most incumbents up for reelection across these United States lost this coming November.
An identical 62% of Nevadans also think it would be a good thing if President Obama’s recently signed healthcare legislation was repealed; that figure is slightly higher than the national repeal rate.
Unfortunately for Nevada’s five-term, 70-year-old senior Sen. Harry Reid, he is not only an....
... incumbent up for reelection this year, he was one of the top driving forces behind Obama’s unpopular healthcare legislation. It appears he’s going to need those millions from two Obama fundraisers in-state. In an interview to be broadcast on Fox News on Monday night, Reid sounded defiant, mocking Republican Sarah Palin‘s speech at a recent tea party in Reid’s hometown: ‘I was going to give a few remarks on the people who were over here a week ago Saturday, but I couldn’t find it written all over my hands.’
Palin had vowed to thousands of supporters: ‘We’re sending a message to Washington. It’s loud and it’s clear, and in these upcoming elections we’re saying that the big-government, big-debt, Obama-Pelosi-Reid spending spree is over. You’re fired!’ The new Rasmussen numbers show Reid still lagging way below 50% approval, while two of his potential Republican competitors have now climbed past that level and even the third-ranking GOP candidate is still ahead of the longtime Silver State politician.
Monday’s bad poll news for Reid continues a trend tracked since early this year.
They show former state GOP chairwoman Sue Lowden whacking Reid, 54 to 39; former state Assemblywoman Sharron Angle has boosted her lead and now beats Reid, 51 to 40, in a hypothetical race; while businessman Danny Tarkanian beats Reid, 49 to 42.
National Republicans would like nothing better than retiring Reid on Nov. 2, as they did to Senate Democratic Minority Leader Tom Daschle in 2004.
Currently only 23% of Nevada voters have a very favorable opinion of Reid, while 53% have a very unfavorable opinion; that’s 5 more points disapproving this month.
Nevadans gave the state’s electoral votes to Obama in 2008 with 55% of their ballots. But today only 43% approve of his job in the White House, while 58% disapprove of his performance.
In another revealing statistic, 49% of Nevadans say the tea party movement’s positions are closer to their own than those of Congress. And 50% says the average tea party member has a better understanding of the issues confronting the country than does the average member of Congress.
Related items:
Myth-busting polls: Tea Party members are average Americans and 41% are Democrat or independent
Armed and dangerous, Sarah Palin fires up crowds on both sides
Sarah Palin’s Nevada Tea Party speech-video
-- Andrew Malcolm
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