House Polls Show Freshman Democrats in Trouble

House Polls Show Freshman Democrats in Trouble

By Sean Trende - October 6, 2010

The Hill and America’s Natural Gas Alliance (ANGA) released 12 polls today of swing districts held by freshmen Democrats.  None of them are particularly good news for the Democrats.  To summarize:

-- AZ 1, Kirkpatrick (D) 39 percent, Gosar (R) 46 percent

-- IL 11, Halvorson (D) 31 percent, Kinzinger (R) 49 percent

-- MD1, Kratovil (D) 40 percent, Harris (R) 43 percent

-- NM2, Teague (D) 42 percent, Pearce (R) 46 percent

-- OH15, Kilroy (D) 38 percent, Stivers (R) 47 percent

-- VA5, Perriello (D) 44 percent, Hurt (R) 45 percent

-- CO4, Markey (D) 41 percent, Gardner (R) 44 percent

-- MI7, Schauer (D) 41 percent, Walberg (R) 41 percent

-- NV3, Titus (D) 44 percent, Heck (R) 47 percent

-- OH16, Boccieri (D) 39 percent, Renacci (R) 42 percent

-- PA3, Dahlkemper (D) 36 percent, Kelly (R) 49 percent

-- VA12, Nye (D) 36 percent, Rigell (R) 42 percent

The headline here is that the Republicans have leads in 11 of these 12 districts, but it is really much worse than that for Democrats.  The rule of thumb is that any incumbent under 50 percent is in trouble, and any incumbent under 45 percent is deep trouble.  The best showing here is 44 percent.  The median score here is 39.5 percent.  Almost all of these incumbents have to be considered underdogs in their re-election battles at this point.

Sean Trende is Senior Elections Analyst for RealClearPolitics. He can be reached at strende@realclearpolitics.com.

Email Print Comments Share
Sponsored Links
Related Articles
October 7, 2010
Democrats' Troubles: The Bigger Picture - Sean Trende
September 26, 2010
Today's Jacksonians - Salena Zito
October 4, 2010
Dueling Generic Ballot Polls - Sean Trende
October 4, 2010
Madison Awaits Feingold's Efforts to Awaken Base - Erin McPike and Scott Conroy