Public Policy Polling (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
By Robert Mann
A new statewide poll is out on the 2014 Louisiana U.S. Senate race — and it’s not good news for Sen. Mary Landrieu‘s GOP opponent, Rep. Bill Cassidy. The government shutdown he supported has damaged his struggling campaign.
According to Public Policy Polling (PPP), Landrieu now leads Cassidy 48 percent to 41 percent.
“Voters oppose the shutdown 60/30, and 47% say they’re less likely to vote for Cassidy for the Senate next year because he supported it compared to only 32% who are more likely to,” PPP reported. “Landrieu’s lead grows to 52/42 when voters are informed of Cassidy’s position on the shutdown.”
PPP added: “These polls make it clear that across the country, whether a state voted for Obama by 10 points or voted for Romney by 20, voters are extremely angry about the government shutdown. And it’s going to make Republican hopes of taking back the Senate next year that much harder.”
The poll was conducted among registered voters on October 14-15 on
behalf of Americans United for Change. 632 were interviewed in Louisiana with a margin error of +/-3.9 percent.
The poll numbers are the second bit of bad news for Cassidy this week. In the most recent fundraising quarter, Landrieu raised almost twice as much as Cassidy. She now has $5.78 million in cash on hand. Cassidy, meanwhile, has only $3.4 million on hand. Worse, he increased his net cash on hand last quarter by a meager $200,000.
In a devastating critique of Cassidy’s campaign, conservative blogger Scott Wilfong wrote on Wednesday,
It has become painfully apparent that the Bill Cassidy for Senate Campaign, now in its sixth month, has lost steam. Republican insiders from around the state had never bought into the idea projected by the campaign that Cassidy would be the undisputed Republican nominee to take on Mary Landrieu. The recent third quarter campaign earnings only confirm what we’ve known all along; Cassidy may not be the party’s best shot at defeating Landrieu.
Earlier this week, Politico leaked a dismal earnings report for the Cassidy campaign. Only $690k had been raised in the third quarter, which is only a little better than half of the $1.2 million the campaign raised in its first quarter (Q2). But most importantly, and most alarming, is that the campaign appears to have spent over $500,000 in the last few months with little to show for it. At the end of Q2, Cassidy reported $3.2 million cash on hand. Now, he claims to only have $3.4 million – a net of a paltry $200k. At that rate he will have barely $4 million come election time.
Filed under: Louisiana Politics, Politics Tagged: Bill Cassidy, Louisiana Senate race, Mary Landrieu
