Posted on 09/16/2010 10:36:56 AM PDT by RC Clayton
Democrat Chris Coons holds a double-digit lead over Republican hopeful Christine O’Donnell in the first Rasmussen Reports post-primary survey of the U.S. Senate race in Delaware.
Coons earns 53% of the vote to O’Donnell’s 42%, with leaners included. One percent (1%) prefer some other candidate, and four percent (4%) are undecided.
The Delaware race is now viewed as Solid Democrat in the Rasmussen Reports Election 2010 Senate Balance of Power rankings.
This marks a remarkable turnaround in a race that at the beginning of the month was rated Solid Republican and was on track to be a GOP pickup. At that time, Congressman Mike Castle led Coons as he had been leading all year. O’Donnell trailed Coons at that time 47% to 36%.
But O’Donnell, a conservative activist picking up endorsements from Sarah Palin and South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint and riding a Tea Party wave of opposition, upset the more moderate Castle in Tuesday’s state Republican Primary. Her victory highlights the voter anger sweeping the nation this year. That anger is described in a new book by Scott Rasmussen and Doug Schoen, Mad as Hell: How the Tea Party Movement is Fundamentally Remaking Our Two Party System.
An excerpt from the book, One Nation Under Revolt was published yesterday in the wake of O’Donnell’s victory.
If leaners are not included, Coons, the elected executive of the state’s largest county, posts a 51% to 40% lead over O’Donnell. Leaners are those who initially indicate no preference for either of the candidates but answer a follow-up question and say they are leaning towards a particular candidate. From this point forward, Rasmussen Reports considers results with leaners the primary indicator of the race.
Coons led O’Donnell 46% to 36% in a survey in August, but a month earlier the two were in a virtual tie.
Seventy-one percent (71%) of Delaware Republicans now support O’Donnell after the party’s divisive primary, while Coons picks up 84% of the state’s Democratic voters. Voters not affiliated with either major party prefer O’Donnell by eight points.
Seventy-eight percent (78%) of Coons voters say they are already certain how they will vote in November, while just 68% of O’Donnell’s supporters say the same.
(Want a free daily e-mail update? If it's in the news, it's in our polls). Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter or Facebook.
The survey of 500 Likely Voters in Delaware was conducted on September 15, 2010 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 4.5 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.
The seat at stake was formerly held by Vice President Joe Biden who resigned following the November 2008 elections. His chief of staff, Ted Kaufman, was named to the seat by the state’s Democratic governor but has opted not to seek a full term. Coons jumped into the race after Biden’s son, state Attorney General Beau Biden, chose not to run against Castle, a popular longtime congressman.
Coons is viewed favorably by 58% of Delaware voters and unfavorably by 34%. This includes 22% with a Very Favorable view of him and 14% with a Very Unfavorable one.
Forty-two percent (42%) have a favorable opinion of O’Donnell, including 20% Very Favorable. Fifty-four percent (54%) regard her unfavorably, with 38% Very Unfavorable.
Both candidates are well-known in the state.
Many analysts say O’Donnell faces a tough challenge in a state whose electorate is predominantly moderate. While a majority of Delaware voters, for example, favor repeal of the national health care bill and passage of an immigration law like Arizona’s in their own state, that support is lower than is found nationally.
Those who Strongly Favor repeal of the health care bill support O’Donnell. Coons earns even stronger support from those who are Strongly Opposed to repeal.
Coons should be ahead by at least 20 points. He is vulnerable.
The three most important numbers here are that only 1% are leaners, only 4% are undecideds and 270% more Delawareans view O'Donnell very unfavorably than view Coons very unfavorably.
You lost, Get over it.
Right. Because, up to LESS than 1 week ago, Castle was favored to win the primary. O’Donnell’s victory is a shock to many. I think when Coons gets some of the exposure that O’Donnell has had, things will turn around, big time.
This race has just started.
I’ll take a loss all day long if it means Republicans nationally are finally reminded to be Conservative!
The biggest problem with a nasty nomination fight and a late primary is that nobody is attacking the other candidate. Now there’s only 7 weeks and the voters perception of Coons is pretty well set, and it will be much harder to reset it.
On the other hand 22% of the Coons supports say they aren’t certain of it, so there’s a lot of votes that could be swung.
And it’s really hard to imagine O’Donnell getting any higher negatives than she has now, so there should be nowhere to go but up for now.
Let’s hope the residents of DE. break with their love of voting for ‘Rats and RINO’s. If they elect marxist-bearded Coons then they deserve whatever crapola comes their way from their Ratdoms masters.
This race has just started.
Polling data is not set in stone. It is a snap shot in time.
She is down 11 after a multi million RNC directed smear job against here vrs a totally unknown Coons candidacy
Now Coons gets put under the microscope thanks to the almost $1 million the O'Donnell took in donations since she won.
So rather then cling to their emotion based love for Rove, the RNCbots need to try actually thinking about this race for the 1st time.
This is a very winnable race, IF the RINO choir quits spending all their time and efforts trying to sabotage her just because their pet RINO in waiting was rejected by the voters.
O’Donnell is trending positive and will pull out the victory in November giving the GOP control of the Senate.
And in 2012 O’Donnell will make a good VP choice for Sarah Palin.
Has anyone polled whether people believe Coons is a Marxist?
Since Coons has self-proclaimed himself to be a Marxist, it would be interesting to see if the public is aware of that factoid.
In this case, amen.
Best Outcome: O'Donnell Wins.
2nd Best: Coons wins.
Worst outcome: If Castle had won.
Unusual after such a bitter primary. Either all the Republicans are uniting behind O'Donnell or all of Castle's supporters have already switched to Coons.
Keep the focus on FISCAL conservativism and she has a chance.
So which Leftist clown posse do you work for Misinformationbot?
Anyone who's curious and has the time should check out the "Americans For Democratic Action" website.For years they've rated House and Senate members regarding their voting for or against left wing bills (they,of course,give perfect scores to the leftists).Check out RINOs (Snowe and Collins,for example) and check their record vs the record of a New England RAT (Bernie Sanders,for example).In 2009 Snowe and Collins got a 65% rating from the organization...proving that they're both complete RINOs.But Sanders,a fellow New England Senator,got 100%...meaning he's an absolute Maoist.
Correction: Delaware changes from Anti-Constitutionalist to Rabidly-Extreme Anti-Constitutionalist.
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