A new Mason-Dixon poll of the Nevada Senate race for the Las Vegas Review-Journal shows Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid in a neck and neck race with Republican challenger Sharron Angle. Reid leads Angle by just one point in the current survey, 43 to 42 percent, which represents a six point tightening of the race since Mason Dixon's last poll three weeks ago. In the current survey, six percent of voters remain undecided and another nine percent register a preference for "other" and "none of these."
Reid's support has remained remarkably constant in three Mason Dixon surveys taken over the last eight weeks (42% in late May, 44% in early July, 43% today), while Angle's numbers have bobbed back and forth (39% in late May, 37% in early July, 42% today).
Mason-Dixon polling director Brad Coker explained Angle's rebound in the latest poll, saying, "At least for the moment, she seems to have stopped the bleeding. Reid had the airwaves to himself for a while, and he drove her numbers down with the advertising. But that didn't necessarily drive his numbers up. There hasn't been a lot of good news to hang his hat on."
Neither candidate is viewed favorably by the public. Fifty one percent of Nevada voters have an unfavorable view of Harry Reid, while 47% say the same about Sharron Angle.
While Angle appears to be struggling to convince voters she's an acceptable alternative to the incumbent, other numbers in the Mason-Dixon poll demonstrate why Reid is hitting a ceiling in the mid-forties. Sixty percent of Nevadans think the country is headed in the wrong direction, 52% want to repeal the new health care law which Reid helped push through the Senate and touts as a signature achievement, and President Obama's approval rating in the Silver State is a dismal 39%.
Tom Bevan is the co-founder and Executive Editor of RealClearPolitics.
Email:
tom@realclearpolitics.com
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