New SC Poll: Let The Spin Begin
A new Rasmussen Reports poll had S.C. politicos spinning over the weekend, as the various gubernatorial campaigns responded to data showing a wide-open 2010 race.
There was a major surprise on the Democratic side, though, as relatively unknown State Senator Vincent Sheheen had a surprisingly high 17% “very unfavorable” rating – also known as a “hard negative.” The poll also showed Sheheen getting trounced by any of the three Republican front-runners, although the results clearly revealed that the vast majority of South Carolinians have yet to settle on a favorite candidate – which isn’t surprising given this lackluster field.
Still, that didn’t stop the various campaign mouthpieces from kicking into high gear.
The Palmetto Scoop, a website run by an employee of S.C. Attorney General Henry McMaster’s consulting firm, said the results showed McMaster as the candidate “best positioned to win the race to become the next governor.”
The Scoop’s story also quoted McMaster consultant Richard Quinn as saying that “internal data” showed McMaster with an even stronger lead.
Meanwhile, an email blast from U.S. Rep. Gresham Barrett’s campaign claimed that their man was “the strongest Republican candidate for Governor overall against the Democrats.”
The poll showed McMaster beating S.C. Superintendent of Education Jim Rex by seven points in a general election match-up, 39% to 32%. Barrett was beating Rex by an almost identical margin, 39% to 33%.
S.C. Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer, however, trailed Rex by one percent in a head-to-head, general election match-up.
There was more bad news for Bauer, whose “very unfavorable” ratings were 21% – more than the rest of the GOP field combined.
With the exception of Bauer and Rex, the rest of the Republican and Democratic fields are virtually unknown – with anywhere between a quarter and a third of the electorate refusing to express a strong opinion about them.
McMaster’s “very favorable” rating of 11% was surprisingly low, considering he has held statewide elected office for nearly eight years.
The poll (links below) was conducted on December 2. It sampled 500 likely voters and had a margin of error of 4.5%.
WEB EXTRA
Comments
By Ynot on December 7th, 2009 at 6:52 am
it’s all made up… figments of someone’s imagination
None of the Repukes are gonna win. We are sick of the values party that has no values.
By Liberty For Me on December 7th, 2009 at 8:21 am
We are so screwed…a barrel of status quo
By Toyota Kawaski on December 7th, 2009 at 9:39 am
Kind of like the basketball poll very worthwhile
By JR on December 7th, 2009 at 10:00 am
Interesting that they only find Rex and Sheheen to be worth doing polling for. Why not Robert Ford?
By Bullmoose on December 7th, 2009 at 12:26 pm
God help us if McMaster becomes Gub’na. First thing he’ll do is round up all the homosexuals and “perverts”. And by the time he’s done, there won’t be anybody left in the state to govern.
By Freddie Guy on December 7th, 2009 at 2:59 pm
Yeah JR. Also did not notice Amos Elliott’s name????
Where was the Rev in the poll?
The insiders are scared of the message of the Rev…
…or was this a “Whites Only” poll???
Fred
By 2 cents on December 7th, 2009 at 10:25 pm
Not voting for any of the above.