Monday, March 29, 2010

The Rasmussen Poll

Lt. Gov. Diane Denish, the Democrats' nominee for governor, beats all five of her Republican opponents in a new poll by the Rasmussen Company.

Among the GOP field, Doug Turner scores best. Denish's lead over him is only 9 percentage points -- 43 percent to 34 percent. She beats Allen Weh 45 to 35 percent.

As both Turner and Weh have noted in news releases over the weekend, in these match-ups Denish scores less than 50 percent.

According to Rasmussen, Denish leads Pete Domenici, Jr. by 17 percentage points (52 percent - 35 percent); Susanna Martinez by 19 points (51-32); and Janice Arnold Jones by 22 percentage point (52-30 percent.)


Rasmussen interviewed 500 likely voters in the state on March 24. The margin of error for the survey is 4.5 percent.

Rasmussen notes, "None of the GOP primary contenders draws more than 35% support against the two-term lieutenant governor." Of course, it's a long way to November. The numbers indicate that relatively few have strong opinions of the Republican candidates, which indicates they aren't that well known. That'll change, especially after the primary.

In other poll questions, the bad news for Gov. Bill Richardson is only 39 percent approve of his job performance, while 58 percent disapprove. The good news is that these numbers are better than last month's PPP poll, which showed a 28 percent approval rating (with 63 percent disapproving.)

On national issues, 53 percent of the New Mexicans polled by Rasmussen favor the Health Care reforms passed by Congress, while 44 percent disapprove.

President Obama remains popular here, according to Rasmussen. 54 percent approve of the way he's handling the job while 46 percent disapprove.