Some encouraging news out of Kentucky today:
http://wkussrc.blogspot.com/...
GUBERNATORIAL RACE
According to the latest Big Red Poll, Democratic Attorney General Jack Conway leads Republican Matt Bevin 45% - 40% among likely Kentucky voters. 7% indicated support for Independent candidate Drew Curtis, and 8% indicated that they are still undecided.
Among Democrats Conway leads Bevin 85%-5%, and among liberals Conway leads 84%-6%. Republicans, Bevin leads Conway 80%-12%, and among conservatives Bevin leads 65%-23%. Conway leads among independents by a margin of 40%-30% and moderate voters 60%-26%. There is also evidence of a gender gap in Kentucky. Conway leads among female voters (51%-34%), while Bevin leads among male voters (46%-41%).
FAVORABILITY RATINGS
Voters are largely mixed with regard to how they view the candidates for governor. 35% have a favorable view of Jack Conway, as opposed to 28% who have an unfavorable view. 33% have a favorable view of Matt Bevin, as opposed to 36% who have an unfavorable view. The majority of respondents are either neutral toward (29%) or have no opinion on (57%) Drew Curtis. - WKU Social Science Research Center, 10/26/15
The WKU Social Science Research Center (SSRC) conducted the Big Red Poll, a live-caller, dual frame (landline and cell phone) survey of 770 likely Kentucky voters between October 19-October 25, 2015. 70% of respondents were reached via land line, and 30% were reached via cell phone. The survey has a margin of error of +/- 3.5%.
Both Conway and Bevin's favorable numbers are tied to a few factors. Those who approve of the job Governor Steve Beshear (D. KY) (59/25) has done as governor support Conway over Bevin, 67%-23%, while Bevin leads with those who disapprove of Beshear 72%-12%.
President Obama remains very unpopular in Kentucky (35/60) so Bevin leads with that group by 64% while Conway does very well with those approving of Obama by 85%.
Congress gets a dismal approval (8/84) but Conway leads Bevin with those who approve of Congress' job (42%-39%) and with those who disapprove of the Congress' job (47%-39%).
Now there's the Tea Party factor. Only 9% of respondents said they identify with the Tea Party and 25% said they sympathize with the Tea Party. When it comes to that group, Bevin leads Conway 75%-14% among self-described Tea Party voters and 68%-16% among voters sympathetic towards the Tea Party movement.
The biggest thing to notice is Conway's leads with women, moderate, Independent and older voters:
When you advocate drug testing Medicare recipients like Bevin has done, it's no wonder older voters aren't flocking towards your campaign:
http://www.kentucky.com/...
During a debate between Republican Matt Bevin and Democrat Jack Conway at Centre College, Conway asked Bevin about his statement from April that recipients of Medicaid and Medicare should be drug-tested.
In April, Bevin said during a Louisville Tea Party forum that he supports random drug testing for recipients of both programs.
"I firmly believe we frankly should drug test people that are on Medicaid and Medicare," Bevin said at the time. "We just should."
During Tuesday night's debate, Bevin didn't back away from that call, saying "there should be expectation of you as somebody who is a recipient, or, as it's often referred to in this state, on the draw."
Conway interrupted Bevin to make clear that he was asking about Medicare and not Medicaid, to which Bevin responded: "Understood." Despite that, Bevin later argued that he was talking about Medicaid. - Lexington Herald-Leader, 10/7/15
This race is absolutely winnable but of course it all comes down to turnout and Bevin is hoping this will give him his last minute boost from his disastrous campaign:
http://www.politico.com/...
The sudden collapse of nonprofit health plans supported by tens of millions of dollars in Obamacare loans is igniting a new political wildfire over the health law — and it’s playing out in a tight gubernatorial race in Kentucky.
The recent demise of Kentucky Health Cooperative, a nonprofit startup seeded with federal loan dollars under the Affordable Care Act, is part of a bigger, national trend. More than a third of the 23 nonprofit health plans created under Obamacare with $2.4 billion in federal loan dollars have collapsed, and most experts predict more failures on the horizon. Late last week, South Carolina’s co-op became the ninth to fail, following similar crashes in Iowa, Louisiana, Nebraska and New York.
But Kentucky is in the spotlight because the co-op went bust earlier this month amid a high-stakes political contest and it is quickly becoming a wildcard issue. The Kentucky plan dominated exchange enrollment during the first two years of operations, capturing roughly 60 percent of customers in a red state hailed as a symbol of Obamacare’s potential. Those Kentuckians will now have to scramble to find new coverage during the looming open-enrollment period, beginning Nov. 1, just as voters head to the polls to pick a new governor.
"This financial debacle is a direct result of Obamacare,” said Republican challenger Matt Bevin, who seized on the failure earlier this month as a validation of his concerns about the landmark health care law and laid blame for it on his Democratic opponent, Attorney General Jack Conway.
“Even though it is a disaster for Kentucky taxpayers, Jack Conway still says he would have been proud to vote for Obamacare,” Bevin said in a statement.
Conway says the co-op's collapse was simply the result of "market forces," and argues Kentucky consumers still have more choice as a result of the health law — seven insurers to choose from this open-enrollment season, up from just three plans two years ago.
The nonprofit co-op program was devised as a way to placate liberals who were irate that the health care law didn’t include a government insurance option. Supporters say it was undermined from the outset, most notably when the original $6 billion funding was slashed by more than half. In addition, the plans were saddled with rules that prohibited them from using federal funds for marketing and restricted which customers they could go after. - Politico, 10/26/15
Local political observers and even some local GOP leaders like Kentucky Senate President Robert Stivers remain doubtful that Bevin can utilize this to help his campaign. But still, turnout is important in this race so lets help make sure people get out to vote for Conway and the whole Democratic ticket. Click here to donate and get involved with Conway's campaign and the Kentucky Democratic Party to help out with GOTV efforts:
https://conwayoverly.com/
http://kydemocrat.com/