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Republican Leads In Race For Obama's Senate Seat
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April 8, 2010 12:20 p.m. EST
Topics: politics, poll, political candidates, election, United States
Kris Alingod - AHN News Contributor
Washington, DC, United States (AHN) - A Republican leads the highly contested Senate race in the Democratic stronghold of Illinois. Rep. Mark Kirk narrowly leads state Treasurer Alex Giannoulias in the race for the Senate seat formerly held by President Barack Obama, according to the latest survey.
Kirk has 37 percent support overall while Giannoulias has 33 percent, Public Policy Polling has found. The Republican has gained little in terms of favorable voter opinion since the pollster found him with 27 percent of voters viewing him positively in January; he is still unknown to 53 percent of voters, and 24 percent continue to not have enough information to form an opinion of him.
The congressman, however, is reaping the benefits of a drop in popularity for Giannoulias, who lost 10 points in terms of favorability since the last survey. The Democrat, facing controversy over bad loans approved by his family's bank, now has only 21 percent of voters thinking of him in a positive light, and 28 percent, up from 19 percent, viewing him negatively.
Kirk, a five-term representative, has more support from his party than does Giannoulias. He enjoys 77 percent support among Republicans, while his rival has 54 percent support from Democrats. Moreover, 36 percent of Democratic voters are undecided about whether to support Giannoulias.
The two candidates are statistically tied among independents, 33 percent to 30 percent.
“The undecided Democrats will decide this race,” Dean Debnam, president of Public Policy Polling, said in a statement. “Will they come home and support Giannoulias in the end, will they stay at home, or will they cross party lines to vote for Kirk?"
Giannoulias, 34, is facing questions about his role in $20 million his family's bank is said to have lent to criminals. The Tulane University Law School graduate served as a senior loan officer and vice president at Broadway Bank, a once-successful community bank in Edgewater now facing insolvency, when the loans were approved.
The state treasurer has sought to divert attention from the controversy to his record of "standing up" to big banks and his rejection of campaign contributions from corporate political action committees and federal lobbyists. Despite being the first U.S. Senate candidate in state history not to accept such donations, Giannoulias has not reported his fundraising totals for the year.
Kirk reported raising $2.2 million in the first quarter of the year and has $3 million cash on hand.
Giannoulias raised $1.1 million in 28 days last year during his exploratory bid for the Senate, also without accepting any corporate PAC contributions. He launched a web application this week called "Kirk, Inc. Counter" that tracks donations Kirk has accepted from lobbyists and corporate PACs.
"The people of Illinois know what it means to have Congressman Mark Kirk, a politician who trades on his status as a consummate Washington insider to bankroll his campaigns back home, elected to the Senate: the corporate special interests will always be put first, and the people will be shut out," Giannoulias' campaign manager, Michael Rendina, said in a statement.
Apart from family troubles hounding Giannoulias, Democrats are expected to have a tough time defending their majority in Congress this fall because of political fallout from the acrimonious healthcare debate, as well as dissatisfaction with the economy. The contest between Kirk and is a toss-up, according to the Cook Political Report.
The general election for the seat to which Sen. Richard Burris (D-IL) was appointed last year, amid controversy over pay-to-play politics involving former Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich, is on Nov. 1.
Copyright © 2003 - 2010 AHN - All rights reserved.Redistribution, republication. syndication, rewriting or broadcast is prohibited without the prior written consent of AHN.License AHN news for your website, business, digital signage network or publication.
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