Rasmussen on Colorado U.S. Senate: No Clear Trend, GOP Edge Persists
by Ben DeGrow | 11:24 am, February 5, 2010 | Comments Off
I’m not sure how exactly to headline the new Rasmussen poll on potential Colorado U.S. Senate race matchups. Three weeks ago I highlighted the fact that Jane Norton’s lead over the Appointed One Michael Bennet was widening, and that Bennet was dropping across the board against all potential Republican challengers.
The results this time aren’t altogether so clear. Yes, Jane Norton has an even greater 14-point advantage over Bennet, but her presumed 12-point lead over Bennet’s Democratic primary challenger Andrew Romanoff has slipped to 7 points.
GOP contender Tom Wiens — who just reported a hefty but heavily self-funded fourth quarter — may have leveled off. But he lost a little ground against both Bennet (6-point lead dropped to 4) and Romanoff (5-point lead dropped to 2).
Finally, however, defying the evidence of any potential polling trend, Ken Buck roughly kept the same lead over Bennet but pushed ahead of Romanoff — going from a 1-point to a 6-point advantage.
With this slight but sudden change of fortune, Weld County DA Buck is the only one of the three Republican contenders who performs better against the former Colorado speaker of the house. But for those expecting Michael Bennet’s big money and heavy-hitting endorsements to help him secure his party’s nomination over Andrew Romanoff, Jane Norton has all appearances of being the GOP’s strongest hope — even if the 14 points may be somewhat of a stretch.
Of course, you can challenge (or uphold) the conventional wisdom by letting us know your predictions on matchups for this and other major statewide and Congrssional races on our latest survey of Colorado’s political temperature.
On a related side note, Rossputin relates at length his positive impressions of Jane Norton from their recent in-person meeting.
