New SUSA VA-Senate poll

By: Corey
Published On: 5/5/2006 9:05:56 AM

Roanoke's WDBJ Channel 7 publishes a new poll conducted earlier this week.  The the poll does not contain head-to-head numbers but does contain some insight into candidates name ID.  The poll was conducted by Survey USA.


Name  Favorable/Unfavorable/Neutral/Unfamiliar

George Allen  52/25/17/7

Jim Webb  11/12/22/55

Harris Miller 4/14/22/60


Full results and methodology can be found here.



Comments



Two important points (K - 5/5/2006 10:47:47 AM)
(1) 52% favorable is not a very good number for an incumbent. That's good news.

(2) 11% favorable is not a very good number for a challenger when the election is only six months away (and 4% favorable is even worse). That 55% (Webb) or 60% (Miller) of the voters don't even know who you are is scary.

The bottom line is that these number seem to indicate that Allen could be beaten ... but that there's not a lot of time for the voters to get to know whichever man who could beat him (which underscores what a problem it is for Webb and Miller to be so woefully behind Allen in fundraising).



Agreed (Corey - 5/5/2006 11:07:53 AM)
Allen is vulnerable but the Dem nominee has a long road to hoe.

I suppose one caveat is that both candidates are currently specifically targeting Dem primary voters with their outreach.  The survey obviously targets general election voters, so you would expect the numbers to be relatively low.  Eventually they obviously need to bring those numbers way up.



Minor nitpick... (Lowell - 5/5/2006 11:21:23 AM)
it's "long row to hoe."  Although it would be hilarious to see someone trying to hoe a ROAD!! :)

Other expressions that I find funny when people get them wrong:

*"tongue and cheek" (should be "tongue IN cheek")
*"nip it in the butt" (should be "nip it in the BUD")
*"once and a while" (should be "once IN a while")
*"for all intensive purposes" (should be "for all INTENTS AND purposes")

Others that you enjoy?



I agree (JennyE - 5/5/2006 11:08:49 AM)
The Unfamiliar numbers are a bit troubling for Webb. Six months is not that great unless you have a ton of money to boost your name ID. Now, I'm hoping with Reid's endorsement of Webb, Miller drops out quickly so Webb can focus his message and campaign on Allen.


SUSA Poll (va.walter - 5/5/2006 11:50:30 AM)
Surprised to see Allen with a 39% favorable rating among black voters in this poll (compared to 29% unfavorable).  It looks like the poll was taken this week which is even more surprising given the recent focus on Allen's race issues.


I don't think the race issues have reached the general populace... (DanG - 5/5/2006 2:16:41 PM)
We just have to wait until people actually hear it.


Here's the thing... (JasonK - 5/6/2006 2:57:25 PM)
No one's going to hear it.  It's a liberal magazine with a liberal readership being hyped on liberal blogs.  Echo chamber in effect.  It won't gain any traction, at least not with the Senate race.


Ah! (Nichole - 5/6/2006 8:07:26 PM)
This poll is very telling, for all of the reasons mentioned above.

Thanks for posting.



We definitely have our work cut out for us... (Susan Mariner - 5/6/2006 8:10:11 PM)
The great news is, though, that the more that people learn about Webb, the more they like and respect him.  He's an amazing person.  His character and integrity are above reproach.  What a treasure in politics.