Poll shows bounce over for Angle, but still holds lead over Reid
With her post-primary honeymoon over, Sharron Angle's lead over Sen. Harry Reid in the U.S. Senate race has narrowed, according to a new poll released this morning.
Angle leads Reid by 48-41 percent in the latest survey from Rasmussen Reports that carried an error margin of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.
The polling data is here.
Angle led Reid by 50-39 in polling two weeks ago, immediately after the former assemblywoman won the hard-fought GOP primary.
In its analysis, Rasmussen said Angle's post-primary "bounce" appears to settled.
The firm said the latest numbers "returns the contest to where it's been in surveys for months," where Angle's support has ranged from 44 percent to 48 percent in various surveys, with Reid at between 38 percent and 43 percent.
While Reid and the Democratic Party have been swinging at Angle's conservative views as out of the mainstream for Nevadans, Rasmussen says the race still is about Reid, the Senate majority leader whose heavy lifting in Washington on President Barack Obama's agenda has contributed to his unpopularity back home.
Reid's "support in this election cycle against any Republican candidate has never risen above the low 40s. Any incumbent at this point in a campaign who is earning less than 50 percent support is considered vulnerable," Rasmussen said.
Brian Walsh, a Republican Party spokesman, said the race is "virtually unchanged" despite Reid spending almost half a million dollars on advertising attacking Angle and building his own standing with voters.
There was no immediate reaction from Reid or Angle. Democrats tend to distrust Rasmussen polls, believing they skew to the right.
According to the new poll, 8 percent of likely voters who were surveyed said they preferred some other candidate over Reid or Angle, while 2 percent were decided. Pundits have been saying for Reid to win, he is counting on people who don't like him to vote for anyone but Angle, or even "none of the above" on the Nevada ballot.
Reid opened the general election campaign with a positive ad touting his efforts to create jobs in the fledgling renewable energy industry in Nevada, then has gone negative with several attacks on Angle on Social Security.
The Rasmussen numbers suggest the strategy might be having an effect, or at least is a trend worth watching. Reid's favorability rating in the latest poll was 48 percent while 49 percent have an unfavorable impression of him.
That is an improvement from two weeks ago, when Reid's favorables were at 46 percent and his unfavorables were at 54 percent.
At the same time, the poll suggests Angle's unfavorables have ticked up a notch. Two weeks ago, her favorability rating was 48 percent while her unfavorables were at 45 percent, with 8 percent uncertain.
The latest poll shows Angle has a favorability rating of 48 percent and an unfavorability rating at 47 percent, with 5 percent uncertain. This could suggest that, for at least a small number of people who feel they know her better now, they aren't fans.
