Much like the array of polling which dropped on Thursday, Friday brings a poll to suit every meme. GOPers can embrace the Fox News national poll, while Democrats can embrace, of all things, the movement for Obama in both tracking polls.
Yes, you read that right, Democrats can cite Gallup. And Rasmussen.
They can also cite a little-known Democratic state senator (though she is in the leadership) leading Governor Rick Scott in Florida. By double digits.
On to the numbers!
PRESIDENTIAL GENERAL ELECTION TRIAL HEATS:
NATIONAL (Fox News): Obama tied with Romney (43-43)
NATIONAL (Gallup Tracking): Obama d. Romney (46-45)
NATIONAL (Rasmussen Tracking): Obama d. Romney (47-45)
MISSOURI (Rasmussen): Romney d. Obama (49-42)
DOWNBALLOT POLLING:
(2014) FL-GOV: Nan Rich (D) 47, Gov. Rick Scott (R) 35
IL-13 (We Ask America): Rodney Davis (R) 47, David Gill (D) 38
MI-14—D (Practical Political Consulting for Clarke): Rep. Hansen Clarke 49, Gary Peters 33, Brenda Lawrence 13, Mary Waters 4, Bob Costello 2
MN-SEN (PPP): Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D) 55, Kurt Bills (R) 29; Klobuchar 56, Joe Arwood (R) 29; Klobuchar 56, Pete Hegseth (R) 28; Klobuchar 55, Doc Severson (R) 27
(2014) MN-SEN (PPP): Sen. Al Franken (D) 51, Norm Coleman (R) 41; Franken 52, Tim Pawlenty (R) 41; Franken 57, Michele Bachmann (R) 35
MO-SEN (Rasmussen): Sarah Steelman (R) 51, Sen. Claire McCaskill (D) 39; John Brunner (R) 51, McCaskill 41; Todd Akin (R) 50, McCaskill 42
A few thoughts, as always, await you just past the jump...
- On the presidential level, this was actually a pretty quiet day. The Fox News numbers seem a bit incongruent, because Obama's approval and favorability numbers in this poll were actually a touch better than the previous incarnation of the FNC poll, but his margin over Romney actually dipped a bit. But the two trackers both went 2-3 points in Obama's direction since Thursday. The only state numbers today came from the House of Ras, and they come from a state that Team Obama might love to steal, but one that no one sees as essential to his coalition: Missouri. Even then, the House of Ras has it within a modest range, but not dead even, as PPP saw it last week.
- Downballot, the eye-catcher here isn't even a 2012 poll. It is the 2014 polls that really catch the eye. In Florida, the staggering vulnerabilities of right-wing Gov. Rick Scott were on full display in a trial heat PPP threw out pairing Scott with little-known (name recognition was almost nil) state senate Minority Leader Nan Rich. Despite being an essentially unknown quantity statewide, Rich held a double-digit edge over Scott. Equally impressive: freshman Democratic Sen. Al Franken steamrolling any of the three best-known Republicans in the state of Minnesota. And if you are wondering why PPP felt the need to poll Franken versus the Republicans, the answer is actually pretty simple: as Tom Jensen said, it was because the current Senate race (featuring safe freshman Democrat Amy Klobuchar) was so damned boring (26-28 point margins) that there was a need to find something more exciting.
- Finally, the sketch poll of the day comes from the great state of Michigan, where Hansen Clarke is hyping a double-digit lead over fellow Democratic Rep. Gary Peters in the redrawn MI-13. I would strike a skeptical note if a poll had no undecideds in a presidential campaign. When it is in a House race? When it is in a House primary, no less? There's no way to not call bullshit on that one. Either his campaign pollster did not include an "undecided" option (which is a joke), or they dropped out the respondents who didn't have an opinion on the House race, which is practically malpractice, if that's the case. Either way, I'd wait for ... ahem ... more reliable polling before passing judgment on this one.