What the R-J Isn’t Telling You
Three-way GOP Bloodbath too Close to Call
As Republican Senate wannabes scratch it out in an ever-tightening primary, the Review-Journal has attempted to spin their latest poll to show Sue Lowden as the ticket to Republican victory in November – never mind that every other report on the poll shows all three frontrunners within the margin of error.
The R-J, as usual, ignores their own data that shows that Reid can beat any of the three Republicans they tested – Lowden, Sharron Angle and Danny Tarkanian – as multiple national sources and the Associated Press have reported.
And while the R-J is cheerleading for Sue Lowden as usual, saying her free fall is over, what their poll actually shows is that the GOP primary is too close to call and Sharron Angle has picked up more than 20 points in the polls since last and four points just since last week. The shakeup comes after a brutal month of media coverage for Lowden: a month of Bartergate – her proposal to use chickens to pay for health care – an FEC complaint for accepting the massive illegal donation of a luxury campaign bus and the admission that she illegally used general election funds for her once-promising primary bid.
John Chachas, one of the 12 candidates seeking the GOP nomination told the AP yesterday that “Republicans could very well snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.”
Here are the numbers:
GENERAL ELECTION MATCH-UP
April: Reid 37 - Lowden 47
May: Reid 39 - Lowden 42
GOP PRIMARY
Lowden - 30
Angle - 29
Tarkanian - 23
AP -Poll: Sue Lowden and Sharron Angle even in Republican support
A newspaper poll shows Republican U.S. Senate primary hopefuls Sue Lowden and Sharron Angle about even in voter support, trailed by Las Vegas businessman Danny Tarkanian.
The survey of 625 registered Nevada voters commissioned and reported Friday by the Las Vegas Review-Journal suggests any of the three would face a close race against Democratic Sen. Harry Reid in November.
Mason-Dixon Polling & Research of Washington, D.C. conducted the survey by telephone Monday through Wednesday. The results have a sampling error margin of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
The poll has Lowden drawing 30 percent support, Angle drawing 29 percent, and Tarkanian drawing 23 percent. Eight percent say they’re undecided.
Early primary voting is continuing throughout the state. The primary election is June 8.
U.S. News: Reid gains ground on GOP challengers
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., trailing Republican challengers to his re-election most of the year, has made up major ground, a new poll indicates.
From being 10 points behind state GOP Chairwoman Sue Lowden in an April poll, Reid has closed the gap to 3 points, as 39 percent or Nevada voters say they would vote for him against 42 percent for Lowden, The Hill reported Friday.
Reid leads Republican state Assemblywoman Sharron Angle, a favorite of Tea Party activists, by 42-39 percent, The Hill said.
And the poll has Reid in a tie with Republican challenger Danny Tarkanian, a businessman and former University of Nevada Las Vegas basketball star.
Reid has spent congressional breaks back in Nevada campaigning and fundraising, with more than $9 million in campaign funds on hand at the end of March.
The poll was conducted May 24-26, and has a 4 percentage point margin of error.
Put it all together, and Reid faces either Lowden, who's now deeply damaged, or Angle, who would go into the general with far-right positions on things like Social Security which may put her too far to the right even in 2010.
And they'll clearly all keep clobbering each other for the next week and a half before the primary on June 8th.
None of this guarantees Reid reelection. Far from it. His popularity levels back in Nevada are still hovering just over lethal territory for an incumbent. But if his luck in opponents continues this way, he has a real chance.