It's not looking good this fall for four Republican senators, namely Susan Collins of Maine, Cory Gardner of Colorado, Martha McSally of Arizona, and Thom Tillis of North Carolina. Despite the advantages of incumbency, all four are trailing their prospective Democratic challengers by four points or more, according to the latest round of PPP polling.
Here's the breakdown:
- Collins 43, Sara Gideon 47
- Gardner 38, John Hickenlooper 51
- McSally 42, Mark Kelly 47
- Tillis 41, Cal Cunningham 46
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PPP calls the Maine polling "most interesting" due to a stunning turnaround from last spring when Collins was leading Gideon by 18 points, 51-33. Perhaps Collins is concerned. She should be. The dual Kavanaugh/Trump acquittal votes aren't turning out so hot with Democrats. "Last April Collins had a 32% approval rating with Hillary Clinton voters," PPP writes, "now she has just a 9% approval rating with Clinton voters." Collins' overall approval rating now is also 24 points underwater, 33%-57%. Sorry, not sorry.
Kelly's lead over McSally, however, hasn't changed much from last spring when he had a 4-point advantage of 46-42. McSally never won that seat to begin with: She was appointed to fill it after Sen. John McCain passed. Perhaps Arizona voters are suffering from buyer’s remorse on a purchase they didn’t even make.
PPP writes that the North Carolina data comes from a survey the outfit did for a private client last week, so no further information beyond the top lines were available. The Colorado data comes from a poll PPP conducted last year in the race between Gardner and Hickenlooper.