Posted on 04/11/2006 9:11:39 AM PDT by bpjam
Becoming U.S. Senate minority leader has hurt Sen. Harry Reid's popularity back home, according to a Review-Journal poll.
Since he was re-elected in 2004 and took the party post, the percentage of Nevadans who view Reid favorably has dropped by 10 percentage points, while the number who view him unfavorably has increased 14 percentage points.
Analysts say it's obvious Reid's new status, which requires him to spout the Democratic party line aggressively and also take the brunt of Republican attacks, has turned off home state voters who saw him as independent. Some are surprised at the magnitude of the shift.
"Wow," said University of Nevada, Reno, political scientist Eric Herzik on hearing Reid's new rating. "That's a real tight spread."
The "spread" is what political insiders call the distance between a politician's favorable and unfavorable percentages. In the new R-J poll, of the 625 regular voters surveyed, 43 percent had a favorable opinion of Reid, while 39 percent had an unfavorable view.
A week before Reid was re-elected in 2004, an R-J poll had his favorable rating at 53 percent and his unfavorable percentage at 25.
That means Reid's spread has gone from a comfortable 18 points to a precarious 4. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
Reid's status as leader of the opposition in the Senate has led many Republicans to label him an "obstructionist" since he took the post.
"This is the problem that any national leader faces within his state," Herzik said. "He has to take some positions nationally that probably do hurt him back in Nevada, and he has to be more outspoken."
snip
(Excerpt) Read more at reviewjournal.com ...
Reid has an image? Who knew?
He has a long time before he has to worry about it. If he does what he has to do nationally, he might not need to worry about local politics by then.
Ya know, I looked and just didn't find it. my bad.
--I never complain about reposts--needs more exposure--
We're stuck (thanks to Nevada voters) with this plick until 2010.
I figured this article would mention a picture and a dart board... ;-P
Reid's Image Takes a Hit?? That's a catchy title. I laughed so hard I had to read the article.
Isn't Reid another one of these Democrat scumbags who stole his election with the help of Indian reservations? Something like that. I remember there was a razor thin margin in his last election and there was some real smarmy goings on.
53-25 =18.
I assume Molly didn't score 800 on the Math section of the SAT.
Who?
-two elections ago he won by less margin than the Libertarian, American Independent (?) or lost votes in the Reno area--it didn't appear to be fraud--
I sure did enjoy watching him twist last week when his previous comments about illegal immigration came out. His blatant lies on the senate floor about when he changed his mind were even better.
I don't think Harry Reid is going to be the next Dem Leader booted out like Daschle. He's probably not going to be a Dem Leader at all by the time 2010 comes around.
The top GOP candidate Jim Gibbons chose not to run against Reid. He preferred to keep a safe house seat. Reid also got a lot of support from GOP business interests. Go figure.
In addition, top GOP candidates are just too afraid to lose-they're cowards. If this were not the case, Heather Wilson would be running against the incumbent in New Mexico, Caputo would run against Byrd in W. Virginia and potential giant-killers Romney and Rudy would be running in N.Y. and Mass. The only exceptions to this rule are John Thune and sadly, Katherine Harris.
[stifling a yawn]
In 1998, we were 428 votes short of bouncing Harry Reid.
Interpretation: Since Reid has become the minority leader, the folks who elected him have seen more of him than ever before. They are starting to realize that he's one heck of a slimy, lying, commie piece of work and they aren't liking what they see.
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