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Bad news for Specter: Only 28 percent want him re-elected
Only 28 percent of Pennsylvanians believe Senator Arlen Specter deserves to be re-elected, according to a poll released today by the Center for Opinion Research at Franklin & Marshall College. In an F&M survey in March, 40 percent said Specter should be re-elected. Specter left the Republicans for the Democratic party on April 28.
Specter’s job approval ratings also dropped, from 52 percent in March to 34 percent now. Among Democrats, Specter still leads his likely primary opponent, Congressman Joe Sestak (D-7), 33 percent to 13 percent with a massive 48 percent undecided.
Not surprisingly, the poll showed Specter’s support dropping the most among Republicans: Only 11 percent said he deserves re-election, compared to 41 percent in March. Forty-three percent of Democrats and 24 percent of independents said Specter deserved re-election.
The poll surveyed 580 Pennsylvanians last week, and its margin of error is 4.1 percent.
Voters are also pessimistic about the direction of the commonwealth, the poll showed. Forty-eight percent said they believe the Pennsylvania is on “the wrong track.”
Of the Pennsylvanians surveyed, 31 percent had a favorable opinion of Specter, with 37 percent unfavorable, 17 percent undecided and 15 percent saying they didn’t know. Forty-eight had a favorable opinion of Specter in March.
The survey showed 32 percent have a favorable opinion of Senator Bob Casey Jr., with 17 percent unfavorable, 17 percent undecided and 34 percent saying they didn’t know. Gov. Ed Rendell fared somewhat better: Forty-two percent had a favorable opinion, with 40 percent unfavorable, 11 percent undecided and 7 percent who didn’t know.
Fifty-six percent of respondents had a favorable opinion of President Obama, with 27 percent unfavorable, 14 percent undecided and 3 percent who didn’t know.
June 25, 2009 at 9:46 am
Tags: Arlen Specter, Barack Obama, Bob Casey, Ed Rendell
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David Diano
Jun 25th, 2009
With the economy in the state it is in, and health care, EFCA, unemployment, housing, banking, etc. all unresolved issues, a lot of politicians have down numbers.
party | voters
——-+———
IND | 917,762
REP | 3,167,348
DEM | 4,371,963
The GOP (dis)approval for Specter doesn’t matter as Toomey will be far less attractive to Dems and Independents, who dominate the GOP 5 to 3.
There is still a long way to go until 2010. A lot of Specter’s approval rating is based upon uncertainty as well. Once he gets some key votes on the Dem issues under his belt, the numbers should improve. Heck, even Obama’s numbers are down.
Stosh
Jun 25th, 2009
Joe Sestak missed 30 Congressional votes last week on Thursday and Friday so he could be back in Pa to campaign for a Senate seat he hasn’t even declared for yet. Oh, and he had time to do an appearance on MSNBC on Friday morning, but not vote.
He missed two major appropriatiosn votes, including funding for the Commerce, State, and Justice Departments, as well as the legisaltive appropriations bill that funds Congress.
Shouldn’t he be doing the job he was elected for?
And talk about hypocrisy – he likes to criticize Specter for not being a firm vote – Sestak is the flight risk in that he doesn’t even shwo up to vote.
I guess it shouldn’t be much surprise, his voting record before he got into Congress was abysmal – he didn’t even bother casting a vote in either Presidential elections for Clinton, his future boss, and that includes when he was working at the Pentagon and stationed in Virginia.
Jon Geeting
Jun 25th, 2009
Specter was a reliable vote for the worst parts of the Bush agenda. His crossover votes were mostly for issues Democrats didn’t actually need him for. There’s no reason to send an 80-year-old 4-time cancer surviving Republican back to the Senate. Especially when you can’t be sure if the Governor who will name his replacement will be a Democrat.