Posted on 06/25/2009 9:29:36 PM PDT by Maelstorm
The strong backing of Democratic Party leaders has done little to change slumping public support for the party's newest convert, U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter. Only 28 percent of all those surveyed say that he deserves re-election, according to the latest Keystone Poll, and double that number say it's time for a change.
Specter's party switch, announced April 28, has hurt his job-performance ratings among Democrats as well as Republicans, according to a telephone survey of 498 registered voters, conducted last week by the Center for Opinion Research at Franklin & Marshall College.
Back in March, before the switch, roughly half the voters in each party said that Specter was doing an "excellent" or "good" job in the Senate.
Those numbers have plunged in the latest survey. Whereas 57 percent of Democrats gave him good or excellent ratings in March, only 46 percent rate him as highly now. Among Republicans, 49 percent rated his job performance as good or excellent in March, and only 18 percent gave him those ratings last week.
"Even more troubling for the senator is that the proportion of state residents who believe he deserves re-election has declined from 40 percent to 28 percent," said the poll's director, G. Terry Madonna.
"I think what he's got going is the worst of both worlds," Madonna said. "Republicans have fallen away from him because he left his party, and Democrats are unhappy with him for lots of different reasons. . . . Voters have a lot of uncertainty about what he is likely to do."
(Excerpt) Read more at philly.com ...
Thanks, I thought that was the case. IMO, Sestak is worse than Specter, if that’s possible! :)
He’d have to do it before the primary, I think. PA has that “sore loser” rule.
Specter had said that he didn’t want to be judged by the more conservative Republican voters in a primary. He may have misjudged the political calculus, if lots of Democrats aren’t going to vote for him in the general election.
And the political climate might not be favorable to Democrats in general in the Nov. 2010 mid-term elections. Chickens may come home to roost relating to Porkulus, car bail outs, higher taxes, high unemployment, possible inflation, cap and trade bills, immigration bills, socialized medicine bills....................
Specter is definitely vulnerable.
bump
Strange I thought everyone likes a turncoat. /s
Good...I never could like that guy!... the TYPICAL PHONY, CRAFTY, SLICK POLITICIAN.
They needed a poll to figure this out? It was fait accompli outcome from the moment of his "conversion".
Maybe PA Democrats have “higher standards” than the PA Republicans.
He should have announced “independent” (THERE IS LITTLE INDEPENDENT ABOUT HIM THOUGH.) from the start and could sneak through with the D and R candidates equally dividing 60 percent. Of course, the D might still win with 40 percent.
Why not, Ira Einhorn liked him just fine, and so did PA people for decades.
Looks like it will be Toomey vs. Sestak, in a year which will likely favor the GOP.
I doubt Specter will lose the Democrat nomination but I think Toomey has a really good chance at trouncing him or Sestak. It will be nice to have real conservative in was Specter’s seat.
Any incumbent polling under 50% is in deep doo.
Specter’s only hope IF he wins the D nomination is that the GOP does put in Toomey and they can cast him as a ‘right wing nutjob’ whereas Arlen is more in step with PA. So you are right ... it’s imperative that Toomey get going on the D’s for Toomey right away.
It is just a good strategy. I saw it work wonderfully in West Virgina with the election of a conservative Republican Governor and Democrats use it all the time to pretend to be Centrists. Toomey can survive such charges. He is a smart man who knows the facts and numbers and can go head to head with Specter. I don’t believe Arlan is more in step with PA on issues but Democrats do have an edge but is is slowly being worn away.
a pay back for the magic bullet
Yup, them's the chickens.
Plus the turncoat factor.
Maybe Ol’ Bag-O-Haggis will finally get the heave-ho from the good people of Pennsylvania.
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