The first polls subsequent to the maidgate scandal that hit Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman last week are now in. Rasmussen has Democratic candidate Jerry Brown leading Whitman 49% to 44%. Two weeks ago, Rasmussen had Brown ahead by 1%. Among Latino and Asian voters, Whitman was getting 17% two weeks ago. That is down to 7% now. Clearly the maid story is hurting her.
In a second poll, SurveyUSA has Brown ahead 47% to 43%. So it looks like Brown is probably a little bit ahead. Whitman has to move fast to fix the problem since early voting began yesterday in California.
Gallup has released its first poll of likely voters. Among all registered voters, Republicans lead by 3% among registered votes but among likely voters, the gap is 13%. This finding indicates that Gallup expects many more Republicans to vote than Democrats. The job for the Democrats at this point is not to appeal to Republicans, but to convince Democrats that they have done a good job. Apparently many Democrats are not convinced, possibly because so many of the things Obama did in the past two years were so watered down in a vain attempt to attract one or two Republican votes in the Senate. Ultimately, he didn't get the votes and the Democrats may pay dearly for trying so hard. Or putting it the other way, the Republicans strategy of "just say no" appears to be a winner since the main effect seems to be demoralizing the Democratic base.
On the other hand, an ABC News/Washington Post poll puts the gap among likely voters at only 6%, with 49% favoring the Republicans and 43% favoring the Democrats. A month ago this poll had the GOP 13% ahead, so the Democrats may be slowly clawing their way back from oblivion.
The National Journal has compiled a list of the states in which the incumbent party is likely to lose the governorship. The top five are Wyoming, Kansas, Tennessee, Rhode Island, and Michigan. Except for Rhode Island, all these states currently have a Democratic governor. Three of the next five are also Democrats.
With hard-charging tea party candidates promising to repeal the health-insurance law, reduce the federal deficit, and rein in government, Republican leaders are begining to worry about what might happen if the Republicans take control of one or both chambers of Congress. Realistically, they won't be able to pass or repeal any laws even if they all stick together because Obama will veto the bills. But few tea party candidates point out that they won't be able to carry out any of their promises before 2012 at the earliest, and only then if a Republican is elected President. So John Cornyn, Eric Cantor, and Haley Barbour are going around trying to temper expectations without discouraging their supporters. But it is fine line to walk telling people that if the Republicans win they won't be able to do much but they should vote for the Republicans anyway.
| State | Democrat | D-pct | Republican | R-pct | I | I-pct | Start | End | Pollster |
| Arkansas | Blanche Lincoln* | 37% | John Boozman | 55% | Sep 30 | Sep 30 | Rasmussen | ||
| Arizona | Rodney Glassman | 33% | John McCain* | 54% | Oct 03 | Oct 03 | Rasmussen | ||
| California | Barbara Boxer* | 46% | Carly Fiorina | 43% | Sep 30 | Oct 03 | SurveyUSA | ||
| Connecticut | Richard Blumenthal | 53% | Linda McMahon | 41% | Sep 30 | Oct 02 | PPP | ||
| Illinois | Alexi Giannoulias | 41% | Mark Kirk | 42% | Sep 30 | Oct 03 | Suffolk U. | ||
| Maryland | Barbara Mikulski* | 61% | Eric Wargotz | 29% | Sep 22 | Sep 26 | Washington Post | ||
| Pennsylvania | Joe Sestak | 41% | Pat Toomey | 51% | Sep 29 | Sep 29 | Rasmussen |
| Cong. Distr. | Democrat | D-pct | Republican | R-pct | I | I-pct | Start | End | Pollster |
| NM-01 | Martin Heinrich* | 48% | Jon Barela | 41% | Sep 27 | Sep 30 | Research and Polling | ||
| NM-02 | Harry Teague* | 44% | Steve Pearce | 45% | Sep 27 | Sep 30 | Research and Polling | ||
| WY-AL | David Wendt | 29% | Cynthia Lummis* | 61% | Sep 30 | Sep 30 | Rasmussen |