Some good news today out of North Carolina courtesy of PPP:
http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/...
PPP's newest North Carolina poll continues to find Kay Hagan in the lead, although the race has tightened slightly compared to a month ago. Hagan is at 42% to 38% for Thom Tillis with Libertarian Sean Haugh continuing to hold on to 8% of the vote. Haugh's supporters say they would support Tillis 61/19 over Hagan if they had to choose between the two major party candidates- when you allocate them to their second choice Hagan leads by just one point at 43/42.
Tillis' slightly improved position is a reflection of Republicans starting to close ranks a little bit more as the election approaches. Last month in the head to head with Hagan he led by 59 points with Republican voters at 72/13, now it's a 71 points advantage at 79/8. And although his favorability numbers still remain very poor at a 28/48 spread, those are also up some from a month ago when they were 24/47. That's also a reflection of improvement with his party base- he's gone from a 39/29 spread with GOP voters up to 52/24.
Nevertheless the recent legislative session continues to be a weight on Tillis. One of the GOP's main goals was to look more moderate on education by increasing teacher salaries, but for the most part those efforts have fallen flat with voters. Only 39% think a good faith effort was made to raise teacher pay this session, compared to 50% who think it was not. Asked to grade the General Assembly's work on education this year 45% of voters give it a D or an F, compared to only 25% who give it an A or a B. The mean grade comes out somewhere in the C-/D+ range. Voters also express overall opposition to the budget that was finally passed, with 29% in support of it to 44% who are opposed. The approval rating for the General Assembly is 21%, with 57% of voters disapproving of it. - PPP, 8/19/14
PPP points out that though Hagan's approval ratings are 42/49, the General Assembly is much more despised than Hagan. Which might be why Tillis' new ad omits the fact that he's the State Speaker:
http://www.newsobserver.com/...
Shot in a diner, the ad shows Tillis saying: “Tired of being disgusted by the news? Washington has completely lost touch with working Americans. The federal budget is a joke, and senators never pay the price.”
Tillis is holding a folded copy of the July 8 News & Observer in his hand. (Not visible are two other front-page headlines: “Libertarian could swing Senate race in N.C.” and “Voting law court battle begins.”)
He continues: “I’m Thom Tillis. I came up in the real world. I’ve been a paperboy, a short-order cook, a warehouse clerk, and eventually a partner at IBM. The Senate could use more people who had to sweat for a living. And fewer of the politicians who made this mess.”
The ad makes no mention of Tillis’ role as speaker of the state House or of his opponent, Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan. It strikes largely the same themes from his biographical pieces in the Republican primary earlier this year. - News Observer, 8/18/14
This is the six month in row showing Hagan in the lead and Democrats are spending a lot of money to keep it that way. Lets help give Hagan a boost to her campaign by donating and getting involved:
http://www.kayhagan.com/...