Will Obama’s Sagging Popularity Impact CT Senate Race?
President Barack Obama’s polling numbers are down – not just nationally but in Connecticut, a state he won by 22 points in 2008. If he can’t recover by November 2012, what will the top-of-the-ticket weakness mean for the down ballot races in Connecticut?
Though it is way too early to tell, I explore whether this might be enough to catapult a Republican into the US Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Joe Lieberman for CT News Junkie. Read the entire piece at that fine site.
A highlight:
If these numbers discourage fellow Democrats, it could set the stage for a stark turnaround from 2008 when Obama’s presence on the ticket created an enormous wave of enthusiasm for Democratic candidates up and down the ballot. The Republican wave that swept the country in 2010 wasn’t enough to propel Linda McMahon into the U.S. Senate against the ever-popular Richard Blumenthal, but McMahon or Shays taking on the lesser-known Murphy, Bysiewicz or Tong with a weakened President on the top of the ticket may well be a different story.
