Elizabeth Colbert Busch, winning.
The
latest poll out of the South Carolina 1st congressional district special election had
this interesting nugget:
51% say the revelations about his trespassing last week give them doubts about his fitness for public office. Interestingly, the events of the last week haven't hurt Sanford too much with Republicans though- 65% say the trespassing charges don't give them any doubts about him, and his favorability with GOP voters has actually improved from 55/39 a month ago to now 61/32.
Some people may be surprised to learn that Mark Sanford's creepy trespassing in his ex-wife's house has improved his standing among Republicans. For those of you who missed it, Sanford
says he snuck in into his ex-wife's house because he didn't want his son to watch the Super Bowl alone. Why didn't he invite his son to his own pad to watch the big game? Who knows? But he knew he was wrong, because when his ex-wife showed up early, he tried to sneak out the back using the light of his cell phone to guide his way.
This incident caused House Republicans to cut his campaign loose. Sanford just isn't worth the headache and they probably figured they can get the seat back in 2014. But why did the incident improve Sanford's numbers among Republicans? Because most of those Republicans are rural white men, and you know that this is how they reacted to the issue:
"That stupid bitch won't let him watch football with his son."
More evidence for my theory?
[W]hile Mark Sanford's poll numbers with Republicans have improved since the last time we looked at this race, Jenny Sanford's have gone in the other direction. What was a 57/15 favorability rating for her with Republicans is now 47/27, suggesting that a lot of GOP voters are holding the trespassing allegations against her instead of her ex-husband.
Unfortunately for Sanford, there are still non-Republicans in this district, and he's facing a 50-41 deficit to Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch. And with an approval rating of 56-31, Colbert Busch isn't just headed toward a special election shocker victory, but could be difficult to dislodge in 2014.