Nevada voters are largely undecided about who they would like to see challenge Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid in 2010, but are showing signs that they are ready to see someone else in that job, according to a Mason-Dixon Polling & Research poll conducted Oct. 6-8.for the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
The poll found that 44 percent of registered Republicans were undecided about whom they would vote for in the party's primary. Twenty-three percent said they would support former state party Chairwoman Sue Lowden, while 21 percent said they backed Las Vegas real estate developer Danny Tarkanian.
Former state Assemblywoman Sharron Angle came in at 9 percent. Retired Marine Bill Parson, doctor Robin Titus, former radio talk show host Mike Wiley, Reno attorney Chuck Kozak, state Sen. Mark Amodei and New York City-based investor John Chachas all register at 1 percent or below among the primary electorate. The margin of error was plus or minus 6 percentage points.
Tarkanian and Lowden both lead Reid in hypothetical general election contests - Tarkanian by 5 percent and Lowden by 10 percent among registered voters surveyed. The margin of error is plus or minus 4.5 percent.
Half of the voters polled said they held a negative opinion of Reid, compared with 38 percent who view him favorably.
Mason-Dixon also polled registered voters on their junior senator, Republican John Ensign, who has seen his popularity sink since the disclosure of an extramarital affair with the wife of a top aide this summer. Nevada voters who want to replace him now outnumber those who want to re-elect him by a 2-to-1 margin.
Tops among the list of possible GOP replacements is 3rd District Rep. Dean Heller, who passed up the opportunity to challenge Reid in 2010, but has not ruled out running in 2012, when Ensign is up for re-election.
Brian Sandoval, the former U.S. District Court judge who resigned to run for governor in September, was tied for second along with Tarkanian among those Nevada voters would most like to see replace Ensign. Lowden earned 14 percent, fourth-highest on the list.
Sandoval, however, looks set on the 2010 governors race, and he would be the GOP's best prospect to hold onto the seat, according to the Mason-Dixon poll. Sandoval would defeat expected Democratic nominee Rory Reid, Harry Reid's son and commissioner of Clark County, 50 percent to 33 percent.
GOP incumbent Jim Gibbons, in contrast, trails Reid by 12 percentage points, 37 percent to 49 percent.
Sandoval leads Gibbons in a Republican primary, 41 percent to 20 percent, with 4 percent for former North Las Vegas Mayor Mike Montandon.
Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, who told the Review-Journal that he is "seriously considering running," would shake up the governor's race if he joins the field as an independent.
In a three-way race with Sandoval as the GOP nominee, Goodman and Sandoval are in a dead heat at 33 percent each while Reid comes in at 25 percent. If Gibbons is the nominee, Goodman earns 36 percent of the vote compared to 27 percent for Reid and 24 percent for the GOP incumbent.
-- Emily Cadei
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Comments
Great inside baseball article, much like dozens of other articles published in Nevada and D.C. for months. Anything new-- like, say, reporting on where the Nevada candidates stand on ISSUES? Or is all your coverage going to be the horse race?
Posted by: DennisMyers
| October 13, 2009 2:16 PM
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