Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Rasmussen: McCain Widening Lead Over Hayworth

Posted By on Tue, May 18, 2010 at 11:53 PM

Rasmussen provides new numbers in the match-up between U.S. Sen. John McCain and GOP primary opponent J.D. Hayworth:


Senator John McCain continues to lead Arizona’s hotly contested Republican Senate Primary contest but his level of support is stuck in a narrow range between 47% and 53%.

The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Republican Primary Voters in Arizona finds McCain with 52% of the vote to challenger J.D. Hayworth’s 40%. Two percent (2%) prefer some other candidate, and six percent (6%) are undecided.

Any incumbent who earns less 50% support is considered potentially vulnerable and McCain has been hovering around that mark all year. The 2008 Republican Presidential nominee cannot be comforted by the fact that his level of support in early primary polling is similar to the numbers for Arlen Specter. Specter, defeated by Joe Sestak, led in just about all early polling but could never get much above the 50% level of support. That provided Joe Sestak with a chance to defeat the 30-year veteran of the Senate yesterday.

That's a wider lead than McCain had the most recent Rasmussen survey but close in line with other surveys.

Read Rasmussen's take here. You'll also find details on Brewer's approval numbers, which have climbed to 85 percent among GOP primary voters, according to Rasmussen.

When you're considering the numbers, remember that Rasmussen showed support for Prop 100 at 53 percent. The sales-tax hike won with 64 percent of the vote yesterday, so Rasmussen's polling sample might not match up with who's actually voting.