Democrats promised early in the cycle that they would give GOP Sen. Elizabeth Dole a tough race and it appears that they have made good on that promise, according to the latest round of polls.
One of the great axioms in politics is that races are never about the challenger, but about the incumbent. There are certainly exceptions to this rule—Minnesota Democratic Senate nominee Al Franken being one—but it absolutely applies to Dole.
The evidence is in the polling. While Democratic state Sen. Kay Hagan has pulled within the margin of error, and even ahead in one survey, she is not yet a household name and remains largely undefined. A Greenberg, Quinlan, Rosner Research poll for Democracy Corps (August 20-26 of 852 likely voters) had Hagan leading Dole by five points, 50 percent to 45 percent. Yet, the Democrat’s positive/negative ratings were 17 percent to 13 percent and her total name identification was 46 percent. Dole’s job numbers were 38-percent approve to 39–percent disapprove and her positive/negative ratings were 37 percent to 34 percent.
Other surveys also point to a
Subscribe Today
Our subscribers have first access to individual race pages for each House, Senate and Governors race, which will include race ratings (each race is rated on a seven-point scale) and a narrative analysis pertaining to that race.