Posted on 09/09/2014 6:10:49 AM PDT by cotton1706
This election year, Lindsey Graham has the weakest foothold of all Republican incumbents in the U.S. Senate, according to results of a poll released on Sept. 7. The 2014 “Battleground Tracker,” conducted by YouGov.com on behalf of the New York Times and CBS News, finds the South Carolina senator to have confirmed support from only 37 percent of voters in the state. Another five percent say they are currently leaning toward the incumbent, but can’t confirm their votes for Graham.
His 37-percent take is not only lowest of all 13 Republican senators up for re-election this year, who average 53.5 percent in support; it also marks a recent drop for Graham, as well. A July study found 45 percent of likely voters to support the incumbent. Those former supporters apparently changed status to undecided, a number that’s grown from eight percent in July’s poll to 19 for September.
“It clearly shows that Graham is very weak,” said Lachlan McIntosh, campaign manager for state Sen. Brad Hutto, who is Graham’s Democratic opponent in 2014. “Hutto can win with the normal Democratic coalition in South Carolina.”
Hutto, who’s represented the Orangeburg region in state senate since 1996, currently has support from 28 percent of likely voters, with another one percent leaning his way. He leads Graham most in voters under the age of 45, however, which is the same age group with the highest portion of undecided respondents (31 percent). The incumbent senator only has majority support from voters who self-identify as conservatives and who are of ages 65 and older.
(Excerpt) Read more at examiner.com ...
Lindsey got democrats voting for him in the open primary. That attracted very little notice, after Thad Cochran. Essentially the eGOP has disenfranchised its own base. The dems won’t vote for Lindsey in the general. 56% is not much in a primary. ....and I’ll be biting against him. Maybe he’ll just go down.
Voting not biting. Dang spellcheck.
The worst Republican is always better than the best Democrat. Every single Dem on the ballot this year for every major race is a proxy for BHO and in the US Senate races, a proxy for Harry Reid.
I know in the Deep South you could once find a “Conservative Democrat” here and there but this species is nearly extinct and I know Graham’s Dem oppononent does not fall into this category.
Here in CA there ain’t no such critter. All Democrats in my state are Marxists. I have always voted the straight GOP ticket have never had any regrets. Not that every GOP candidate I have ever voted for is a perfect conservative, far from it, they have all been, without exception, vastly superior to all of the Dem candidates.
Nothing in life is perfect, least of all politics. We have to work with what we have.
“The worst Republican is always better than the best Democrat.”
In two races this year, that is not true. Mitch McConnell and Lindsey Graham should be removed from power one way or the other. The US Senate would be far more conservative with democrats sitting in their seats. They have been insidious backstabbers. And McConnell especially is very dangerous for he literally lusts after the Majority Leader position, and will be emboldened to “destroy” and “crush” more conservatives who dare to stand in his way.
That isn’t true anymore. If we win with guys like Cochran, McConnell, and Graham, we are stabbing ourselves in the back.
I will not only be withholding my once reliable vote from Graham, but I will vote for one of his opponents. These guys must be stopped at all costs.
Absolute nonsense. The loss of KY,MS, SC, and KS would absolutely guarantee continued Dem control of the US Senate. A terrible mistake if you ask me. We begin taking back our country this November even if that means voting for some GOP candidates who are less than perfect. There is no other plausible alternative right now.
EVERY SINGLE DEM ON THE BALLOT IS A PROXY FOR BHO. PERIOD.
This is the game that has been played for years by the Republican Establishment: “all we have to do is prevent a conservative from getting the nomination (for whatever office) and the conservatives will vote for the republican every time, because in their view, the democrat winning would be worse.”
While at the same time, if a conservative successfully gets nominated, they don’t fund that person, undermine them or openly support the democrat. Witness Lisa Murkowski in 2010, Dede Scozzafava openly endorsing the democrat when it became clear that she wouldn’t win and the conservative would. Both John Warner and Richard Lugar have endorsed the DEMOCRAT nominees for senate in their states THIS YEAR.
I’ve been watching these machinations for years, where the moderate/liberal republican says “vote for me because you know the democrat is worse” then betrays once they’re safely renominated or reelected. We’ve seen this with Jim Jeffords, Arlen Specter, Lincoln Chafee, Orrin Hatch, and most recently with Lamar Alexander who once he was safely through the primary, he went back to supporting Amnesty, because he knew the conservatives would behave like sheep and vote him back into power.
I for one am not playing along anymore, and a number of others have seen this insidious game and are not playing along either.
We can win the senate even with the losses of McConnell and Graham (and even Cochran). WV, AK, AR, LA, MI, IA, NC, MT, NH, SD with possibilities in MN, WA and VA.
By that, you mean a liberal GOP candidate that stands 100% against what conservatives stand for.
The perfection meme was started by liberal republicans as cover because they ran a presidential candidate that didn't match his party platform and was pro-abortion, anti-gun, pro-amnesty, for socialized medicine, and for big government.
I will continue to work to politically destroy liberal republicans so that they never win any election, primary or general, again.
/johnny
I agree. Time for this was in the primary. Regardless, I have trouble believing a NY Times poll.
/johnny
This NYT/YouGov poll was conducted from 18 Aug-2 Sept. It shows Graham leading by 13, and is rolled into the overall average showing a 15-point lead for Graham. The hopes of some FReepers notwithstanding, Graham is very unlikely to lose his seat.
I am very conservative but Graham’s votes and words forced me to register as an independent. I refrained from voting for senator the last time he ran but this time I may actively vote against him.
Our choices in life are not always perfect. For me in CA it has meant voting for people like Arnold and Pete Wilson over the likes of Gray Davis, Phil Angelides, Dianne Feinstein, and Kathleen Brown. And yes, I would do it all over again without hesitation.
It makes so sense whatsoever throwing away safe GOP Senate seats. Mitch McConnell, Thad Cochran, Lindsey Graham, and Pat Roberts, while not perfect, are VASTLY superior to their Dem opponents.
Can anyone kindly identify one single Democrat running for a major office who is superior to his GOP opponent?
Can anyone kindly identify one single Democrat running for major office who is not effectively a proxy for BHO?
Say whatever you like about Cochran, Graham, Roberts, and McConnell, but all:
1) Voted against Obamacare
2) Voted against the Porkulus
3) Voted against Cap and Trade
4) Voted against Dodd-Frank
5) Voted against Harry Reid for Majority Leader
These facts alone are enough are sufficient reason to vote for all of them. Voting Dem is nothing short of insanity.
If you are looking for perfection or utopia, you will never find it in politics. I think it was RR who once said politics is the world’s second oldest profession.
I live in Massachusetts, just as much a liberal state, if not more so, than California.
I don’t vote for democrats but I also do not just vote for “r”’s anymore. I blanked my ballot in 2012 because I WOULD NOT vote again for Scott Brown. And if liberal republican Charlie Baker is nominated in the primary again tonight, I will blanking my ballot for him in November as well, like I did when he ran (and lost) in 2010. Though I may vote for a third party candidate.
I’ve through voting for moderate or liberal republicans, and have been working to weaken their support across the country, so hopefully a lot of them will be in their final terms since their support is dwindling (60% for McConnell and Cornyn, 56% for Graham, 50% for Cochran, 49% for Alexander, 47% for Roberts). Even if they win in November, it will be barely, and they’ll have to drain their “warchests” just to get barely by.
In any case, I will do absolutely nothing to help them. Their ilk has made it clear that they do not want my vote, so they can get reelected with the democrats and moderates that they seem to love so much.
I guess that’s the difference between you and me.
I would vote for a Scott Brown any day of the week over an Elizabeth Warren or a John Kerry or a Ted Kennedy.
The late Sen. Jesse Helms R-NC was my all time favorite US Senator. But I don’t think realistically a state like MA is going to elect someone like him.
“The late Sen. Jesse Helms R-NC was my all time favorite US Senator. But I don’t think realistically a state like MA is going to elect someone like him.”
That’s probably true. But he certainly didn’t need to vote like this, and then expect me to just vote for him again:
Brown - 2010 - 64% (Average) - 62% (CFG) - 74% (ACU) - 57% (FreedomWorks)
Brown - 2011 - 48% (Average) - 49% (CFG) - 50% (ACU) - 44% (FreedomWorks)
Brown - 2012 - 34% (Average) - 51% (CFG) - 36% (ACU) - 15% (FreedomWorks)
I would not pay Scott Brown to shine my shoes. He lucked out in Mass because his opponent was the spawn of Satan. NH GOP can’t do better than Scott Brown? puh-leeze
It would be interesting to see what Warren, Kerry, Kennedy, and Markey scored from these groups.
“It would be interesting to see what Warren, Kerry, Kennedy, and Markey scored from these groups.”
Obviously zero, since they are conservative rating groups.
Unfortunate, but maybe he has loaned his campaign a lot of his own money and will lose his @$$.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.