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The dynamics of Pennsylvania’s Senate race have changed little over the past month. Republican Pat Toomey continues to lead Democrat Joe Sestak by a modest margin.
A just released poll from Rasmussen Reports shows the Toomey advantage currently at 45-39% with 11% undecided and another 6% supporting a different candidate. Those are nearly identical figures from last month that showed Toomey with a 45-38% lead after Specter had enjoyed a brief post-primary bounce in May.
Whichever candidate wins in November they’ll be replacing long time Republican turned Democratic Senator Arlen Specter who was convincingly defeated by Sestak in his party’s primary in May. In spite of the highly publicized campaign Democrats appear to offer Sestak lukewarm support in the wake of his surprising victory. Just 70% of Pennsylvania Democrats are shown to support Sestak against 81% of Republicans who plan to vote for Toomey in the fall. The GOP’s nominee also holds a nine-point advantage amongst those likely voters unaffiliated with either major party.
A just released poll from Rasmussen Reports shows the Toomey advantage currently at 45-39% with 11% undecided and another 6% supporting a different candidate. Those are nearly identical figures from last month that showed Toomey with a 45-38% lead after Specter had enjoyed a brief post-primary bounce in May.
Whichever candidate wins in November they’ll be replacing long time Republican turned Democratic Senator Arlen Specter who was convincingly defeated by Sestak in his party’s primary in May. In spite of the highly publicized campaign Democrats appear to offer Sestak lukewarm support in the wake of his surprising victory. Just 70% of Pennsylvania Democrats are shown to support Sestak against 81% of Republicans who plan to vote for Toomey in the fall. The GOP’s nominee also holds a nine-point advantage amongst those likely voters unaffiliated with either major party.
As voters get to know each candidate better their opinions have soured some. Pat Toomey is currently view very favorably by 17% of Pennsylvanians with 13% holding a very unfavorable opinion. Joe Sestak meanwhile is evenly split at 16-16% amongst those with strong opinions. That represents a modest drop in support for both candidates since last month although it has had little to no effect on the overall picture of the race.
In other areas of interest Rasmussen Reports pegs President Obama’s approval rating in Pennsylvania at 47%. He has registered consistently just below the 50% threshold for several months now, a far cry from his 2008 success in the Keystone State when 55% of voters punched their ticket for Obama. The President’s stance on the immigration debate is not helping his numbers either. With the administration set to file a lawsuit against Arizona over its tough new immigration laws by a 55-31% margin a majority of Pennsylvania voters oppose the legal challenge.
Similarly most Pennsylvanians (54%) favor the repeal of the President’s sweeping health care reform bill passed last fall. 42% oppose any sort of repeal keeping these numbers roughly in line with what Rasmussen has tracked nationally, although somewhat at odds with other pollsters.
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