Two weeks ago we suggested that Democrats might target Oklahoma GOP incumbent Sen. Jim Inhofe in their quest for 60 seats. A poll released this week by Democratic nominee Andrew Rice’s campaign lends some credence to that theory and may help move the race up the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee’s list of priorities.
The survey conducted by the Benenson Strategy Group for the DSCC (August 12-14 of 600 likely voters) showed Inhofe ahead of Rice, 50 percent to 41 percent. Inhofe’s job performance ratings were 45 percent “excellent/good” to 47 percent “fair/poor.”
A poll taken just three weeks earlier gave Inhofe a 22-point advantage. The SoonerPoll.com survey (July 19-23 of 750 likely voters) had Inhofe leading Rice, 52 percent to 30 percent.
Conceding that comparing polls taken by two different firms is comparing apples to oranges, what happened to close the gap? It’s not so much that the gap closed as it is that Rice has started to chip away at Inhofe’s significant name recognition advantage. In fact, taking the margin of error into account, Inhofe’s number didn’t move at
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