His approval rating isn't soaring in the stratosphere anymore, but Iowa Republican Sen. Charles E. Grassley still is well-regarded in his state and has a big lead over his likely 2010 Democratic opponent, according to a Selzer & Co. poll conducted Nov. 8-11 for the Des Moines Register.
Grassley has a job approval rating of 57 percent, matching his showing in Selzer's September survey and exceeding the approval rating of Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin (54 percent), who was re-elected in 2008, and Democratic Gov. Chet Culver (40 percent), who faces a difficult re-election race next year.
Though Grassley's approval rating is down from 75 percent in January, he's still in a strong early position to win a sixth term in the Senate. He takes 57 percent of the vote in a hypothetical matchup with Democratic lawyer Roxanne Conlin, who received 30 percent support in the poll, which was taken right after Conlin announced she would challenge Grassley.
Conlin, who lost a bid for Iowa governor in 1982 and has not appeared on an Iowa ballot since, is an unknown figure to most state voters. More than six in ten voters said they could not render either a favorable or unfavorable opinion of her, with 22 percent rating her favorably and 16 percent unfavorably. Grassley is viewed very or mostly favorably by 64 percent and unfavorably by 30 percent.
The poll showed that Iowans like Grassley mainly for his "honesty" and his "service to Iowans," though they're less laudatory about how he's handled health care issues. Grassley is the top-ranking Republican on the Finance Committee, an influential panel in the ongoing debate over how to overhaul health care policy.
CQ Politics at the moment rates the Iowa Senate race as Safe Republican, but will continue to monitor the race for signs of competitiveness.
To see how the 2010 Senate races are shaping up, check out the CQ Politics' election map.
-Greg Giroux
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