Iowa Poll: Chuck Grassley leads big over Roxanne Conlin

[The Northerner]

Iowans' opinions of Chuck Grassley have cooled in the past year and a half, and likely voters don't think he is as aggressive in taking on special interests as he used to be, but they're still willing to throw support behind the 77-year-old Republican senator, a new Iowa Poll shows.

Grassley has such a commanding lead over Democrat Roxanne Conlin — 31 percentage points — that it might be impossible for her to eke out a victory on Nov. 2, analysts said.

If the election for U.S. Senate were held today, 61 percent of voters would support Grassley, while 30 percent would pick Conlin, the poll shows. Three percent would select Libertarian John Heiderscheit, and 6 percent aren't sure or named someone else.

"Put a fork in it," said Jennifer Duffy, senior editor for the Cook Political Report in Washington, D.C.

Despite a recent blast of Conlin campaign advertising on television, the poll shows many Iowans remain either unimpressed or unfamiliar with Conlin, 66, a hard-driving Des Moines lawyer and civil rights activist who lost a bid for governor nearly three decades ago.

Conlin campaign staffers say they are building momentum each day.

But the poll shows voters are firm about their decision: 70 percent say their minds are made up, leaving 30 percent of voters still in play. In the governor's race, only 59 percent say they've made up their minds.

Read more: http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20100927/NEWS09/9270310/Iowa-Poll-Chuck-Grassley-leads-big-over-Roxanne-Conlin


Huh? How can Grassley still have a commanding lead over Conlin despite his opposition to the health care reform, financial reform, DREAM Act, etc.?

[bluestateguy]

1. I don't care for polls, but this lead is probably too big to cover up with a poll

It never ceases to amaze me how many lightweight Mondale/Dukakisish opponents the Democrats have thrown at Grassley in the last 24 years.