Quinnipiac (3/26-31, registered voters, 3/3-3/8 in parens):
Chris Dodd (D-inc): 34 (42)
Rob Simmons (R): 50 (43)
Undecided: 12 (12)Chris Dodd (D-inc): 37 (47)
Sam Caligiuri (R): 41 (34)
Undecided: 17 (16)Chris Dodd (D-inc): 35
Tom Foley (R): 43
Undecided: 16
(MoE: ±2.9%)
Quinnipiac finds that Nutmeggers are mad as hell, and they’re not going to take it anymore. In the wake of Dodd’s admission that he inserted the language that allowed bonus payments to be made to AIG executives, Dodd’s already poor favorability rating has taken a brutal hit: he currently is sitting on a 58% unfavorable rating, and his re-elect/dump score is a chilling 35-59. A full 54% of voters consider Dodd untrustworthy, and 39% place “a lot” of blame on Dodd for the bonusgate fiasco, while another 35% place “some” blame on the Senator. (That’s a higher share of blame than is placed on George W. Bush, who receives scorn from 59% of CT voters for the AIG payments.) Still, the fact that a five-term incumbent like Dodd is losing to a pair of no-name generic GOPers with name recognition in the teens is fairly jarring.
The results from this poll differ fairly sharply from the first post-AIG poll done by R2K in the immediate aftermath of the revelations; in that survey, Dodd held a 45-40 lead over Simmons, and was over 50 against Caligiuri and non-candidate Larry Kudlow. We’ll probably want to see another poll before we start asking Dodd to walk the plank (as the DSCC is refusing to do publicly at this stage), but I’m sure we won’t be facing a shortage of polls from this race over the coming months.
More discussion on this poll is already underway in andgarden’s diary.
Imagine if a conservative Republican 30-year-incumbent was trailing a Democratic opponent by 16 points, said Dem opponent was at 50%, and the state was generally considered solid red. The NRSC would have that incumbent announcing his retirement within hours!
(And no, not even Bunning has numbers this bad. Not remotely. Imagine someone like Thad Cochran or Orrin Hatch trailing by 16 points and you get a picture of how dismal this situation is.)
I’m reluctant to call for his retirement, but if he continues to poll so poorly he should definitely consider it.
I’ve mentioned in andgarden’s diary that the approval rating looks suspect.
He was at like high-40s/low-40s approve/disapprove recently. Nothing much has happened since then. I find it hard to believe that he’s plunged to 35/58. 40/49 I can believe. 35/58 requires that I really ask what’s going on here.
Then again, this is Quinnipiac polling its home state, for what it’s worth.
And then again, this is me commenting on my own home state as well.
Dodd’s troubles should blow over. Right now most voters don’t even know who Simmons is, and they’d pick a ham sandwich over Dodd at the moment. Once voters are made aware that he’s nothing but a former Bush-dog right-wing DC hack they’ll be more than willing to keep Dodd around.
Let Blumenthal, Lamont or DeLauro run. He’s served five terms and been in congress for 35 years. With that, and these numbers, it’s time to retire. Don’t give away a seat the way your father did in 1970.
Once a politician has been that low for an extended period of time, the damage usually cannot be repaired. He is in serious trouble and he helps brings down ALL Democrats.