He's not beloved by Pennsylvanians, but Democratic Sen. Arlen Specter holds an early lead over his two chief challengers in the 2010 election, according to a survey conducted Aug. 25-31.
The Franklin & Marshall College poll of 562 registered voters found that in a 2010 primary matchup, Specter is favored by 37 percent versus 11 percent for Democratic Rep. Joe Sestak.
Six percent of Democratic respondents said they were supporting some other candidate in the May primary (state Rep. Bill Kortz also is running), while 46 percent said they weren't sure who they would back.
Looking ahead to the general election, the poll found that Specter leads former Rep. Pat Toomey, the likely Republican nominee, by a margin of 37 percent to 29 percent.
In a hypothetical matchup between Toomey and Sestak (who met for a town hall-style debate on health care Wednesday night), Toomey leads by 26 percent to 22 percent. Neither Toomey nor Sestak is well known statewide.
Specter is well known statewide, though more respondents said they had an unfavorable opinion of him (42 percent) than a favorable opinion (35 percent).
Specter doesn't fare as poorly as outgoing Democratic Gov. Edward G. Rendell, who has a favorable rating of 32 percent and an unfavorable rating of 53 percent.
President Obama has a 55 percent favorable rating, though a slight majority of Pennsylvania voters said they somewhat or strongly oppose the health care proposals the Democratic-run Congress is considering.
![[ARCHIVES]](http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/templates/images/archives_icon.png){kind=icon}
Post A Comment