Jon Ralston has teamed up with the Mellman Group to give us a preview of how Nevada voters are feeling and it confirms who’s the most vulnerable Republican Senator next year:
Republican Sen. Dean Heller, who announced his re-election bid for U.S. Senate in December, fared worse with Nevada voters. Twenty-nine percent of voters gave Heller positive ratings, while 40 percent were negative and 31 percent said they didn’t know or weren’t sure.
Only five percent of voters polled thought Heller was doing an “excellent” job, while 24 percent characterized his performance as “good,” 26 percent graded him as “only fair,” and 14 percent called his performance “poor.”
Heller did best with voters who identified as white and Republican and fared poorly with female poll respondents and those living in Las Vegas. Heller’s ratings also lagged among Democrats and independents, with 43 percent of the latter group holding an unfavorable opinion of the Republican.
The poll of 600 likely voters was conducted with live interviewers between Jan. 12 and 15, and has a margin of error of four percent, with a 95 percent level of confidence.
While Democrats have a lot of defense to play in terms of the U.S. Senate next year, we at least know one perfect opportunity for Team Blue. Stay tuned.