PPP released it's Pennsylvania Miscellany poll today and if the 2016 Pennsylvania U.S. Senate race were held today, Decorated Admiral and former Congressman Joe Sestak (D. PA) would tie Tea Party Senator Pat Toomey (R. PA):
http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/...
Bob Casey (44/42 approval) is faring better with voters in the state right now than his junior colleague Pat Toomey (36/46 approval). Both Senators are down a net 7 points on their approval compared to when we last polled the state in March. Toomey would tie Joe Sestak at 42 in a rematch of their 2010 match up that he pulled out by a couple points, and he would trail Attorney General Kathleen Kane 46/42 in a hypothetical contest. 2016 is certainly a long way off but early indications are that this should be a competitive race. - PPP, 11/27/13
The poll also found overwhelming support for raising the minimum wage to $10 an hour (57/34) while Obamacare is still unpopular in the Keystone State (40/51). The 2016 Senate race wasn't the only major 2016 race PPP tested:
Pennsylvania really shows what a wide disparity there is between Chris Christie's appeal and the rest of the Republican Presidential candidates. He leads Hillary Clinton 48/44 in the state, while the rest of the GOP hopefuls do as bad or worse than Mitt Romney did there last year. Clinton leads Jeb Bush 48/44, Rand Paul 51/43, Rick Santorum 51/42, and Ted Cruz 53/41.
Christie also leads the Republican primary field in the state with 26% to 16% for Ted Cruz, 14% for Rand Paul, 10% for Jeb Bush, 8% for Rick Santorum, 6% for Marco Rubio, 5% for Paul Ryan, and 3% each for Bobby Jindal and Scott Walker. Even there Christie is weak with 'very conservative' voters, getting just 11% to 23% for Cruz and 19% for Paul. But with moderates Christie gets 45% to 13% for Paul, 10% for Bush, and just 5% for Cruz.
In the Democratic primary there's not much of a home state bonus for Joe Biden. Hillary Clinton still gets 61% to 13% for Biden, 11% for Elizabeth Warren, 3% for Andrew Cuomo, and 2% for Cory Booker. Clinton does well with pretty much every segment of the Democratic electorate. - PPP, 11/27/13
PPP did survey 693 Pennsylvania voters between November 22nd and 25th. They sampled 491 Republican voters and 436 Democratic voters. That might explain why Christie is leading Clinton because PA is Clinton territory. So if Hillary runs, expect to see her team campaign hard to win back the Keystone State.
Now for my fellow Pittsburghers, I have some great news for you. PPP found that 48% of Pennsylvanians identify themselves as Steelers fans compared to 28& who identify themselves to Eagles fans. Steelers coach Mike Tomlin is still well liked with 56% of Steelers fans approving of his job and 60% of them want him to return next season. Pirates fever is still well alive in Pennsylvania with 34% identifying as Pirates fans while 28% identify as Phillies fans. Now in terms of college sports, 47% identify themselves as Penn State Nittany Lions fans whereas Pitt gets 20% and my Alma Matter, Temple University, comes in third with 11%.
With the exception of Christie narrowly leading Clinton, I'm pleased with this poll. I'm happy Casey is more popular than Toomey. I may not always agree with Casey but I am happy that he is the Senior Senator of Pennsylvania. Plus, he wrote my cousin's recommendation letter to West Point so he really scored some more points with me. Now I am impressed to see Sestak and Toomey tied this early in the game. Grant it's still very early but still, I'm happy to see Sestak still showing a strong presence with voters. Now I am impressed by how strong of a candidate Kane would be if she chose to run for Senate. She's a great Attorney General and I personally would like to see her have two terms. I am dedicated to Sestak's campaign because he really should be in the U.S. Senate, not the Congressman from Wall Street. However, knowing that Kane would also make a great candidate is good to know. But I remain committed to Sestak getting his revenge in 2016 and I love the fact that he's getting started now. If you would like to get involved or donate to Sestak's campaign, you can do so here:
http://joesestak.com/