Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar leads endorsed her Republican-endorsed opponent Kurt Bills by 26 points, according to a survey released Friday by Public Policy Polling.
Her huge lead can be credited to two things: her popularity in the state (she has a 57 percent approval rating) and the low name recognition of her opponent: 80 percent of the poll’s respondents said they had no opinion of Bills, a first-term state representative who rode a wave of support from Ron Paul backers to the Republican Party’s endorsement last month. Klobuchar leads Bills 55-29.
Klobuchar has a a 73 percent approval rating among moderates. Seventy-nine percent of moderates have no opinion of Bills, but his approval rating among somewhat conservative (85 percent) and very conservative (79 percent) voters is very high.
PPP concludes: “The 2012 Minnesota Senate race may be up there for the most boring one we’ve polled on this cycle.”
The pollster looked at Sen. Al Franken’s approval rating, which is at 50 percent. He leads three potential 2014 opponents (former Sen. Norm Coleman, former Gov. Tim Pawlenty and U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann) by at least 10 points each.
Public Policy Polling also looked at the marriage amendment on November’s ballot and the presidential race in the state in its survey of 973 voters last week.
Devin Henry can be reached at dhenry@minnpost.com.
80 percent had no opinion of Bills
Only 20% of the poll’s respondents know who Bills is, yet 30% of the poll’s respondants would still vote for him over Klobuchar. Hmmm.
What will the numbers be when 50% know who he is? Or 70%.
Good Point
Bills’ numbers could really nosedive. Wait till everyone hears about how he wants Minnesota to issue it’s own currency.
Kurt Bills
…and why would that be a bad thing? Do you think the people of Minnesota would allow rampant inflation like the Feds?
If you want to tell everyone something is a bad idea, you should at least be able to tell us why.
Still Waiting For Klobuchar to Disclose Position on War w/ Iran?
Also, still waiting for this so-called public blog to print my comments regarding her failure to disclose where she stands. Does Amy prefer a trillion dollar war over in the MidEast or not? Shouldn’t she have some sort of position in this matter?
Why is the public denied the truth? Too many Watergate Celebrations getting in the way?
Lucky Mr. Bills!
He is a public school teacher, so he can spend the summer on a quixotic quest for the US Senate and still have a job to return to in the fall. Of course, he has tenure, so the comically unreal economic opinions that he is spreading around (or trying to hide–the focus groups are unclear) won’t get him fired.
I’m sure he wants ALL workers to have that kind of protection, right Mr. Bills?
The polls will tighten
First off, PPP is about as left-leaning a polling company as you will find. Second, with the recent Supreme Court decision on the so-called “Affordable Healthcare Act,” you will find a lot of anger directed towards the Congressional robots who blindly voted for the bill when they didn’t know what was in it, which is now the law of the land. Klobuchar is in part, responsible for that law, and will see a distinct change in the polling numbers, especially when conducted by a real polling company.