Rasmussen: FL Sen. Nelson (D) 57%, Harris (R) 27%

[Adlai Stevenson]

April 14, 2006--The Florida Senate seat held by Bill Nelson (D) was once seen as a pick-up opportunity for the GOP. Now, however, the imploding campaign of Katherine Harris has Nelson counting down the days until May 12. That's the deadline for some other candidate to file and challenge Harris in the Republican Primary.

If Harris ends up as the Republican nominee, Nelson will be one of the nation's safest incumbents. The latest Rasmussen Reports election poll of Florida voters shows Nelson leading Harris by 30 percentage points, 57% to 27%. A month ago, Nelson led by 21 points.

Numbers like these have even caused the state's top-ranked Republican, Governor Jeb Bush, to express concern over the state of the Harris campaign. Over the past month, every senior member of the Harris campaign resigned.

Just 45% of Republicans would now vote for Harris over Nelson. Thirty-three percent (33%) would vote for the Democrat.

Fifty-five percent (55%) of Florida voters believe that tax cuts help the economy. That includes 67% of all Republicans and 47% of other voters in the state.

Just 23% of Florida voters believe tax cuts are bad for the economy, while 14% say they have no impact.

The rolling average of the last three Rasmussen Reports election polls in Washington shows Nelson with with a 54% to 34% lead.

[Moooooo]

Wow, just plain wow.

[Mr. Paleoconservative]

I am fairly confident she will face a primary opponent and lose.

Then the race is back to square one.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Then you haven't seen the primary polls.

[Gustaf]

I actually consider this to be a bad sign. If Harris is running so weak among Republicans it's a sign that they might be willing to bring someone else in. I'd rather have Nelson beating Harrison 55-45 than him hypothetically beating her 70-30 and in reality losing the general to someone else.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Harris has confirmed she is not budging. Any new candidate the Republicans got would have to start from scratch (assuming they're even all that high quality, almost all prominent Republicans have passed), and she's easily ahead in the primary polls. Plus look at Free Republic on this. They have a large faction fanatically dedicated to Harris (and still under the delusion she can win) that frequently gets into fights with the ones who want Harris to drop out. Removing Harris would have an even worse reaction than the Democrats were to removing Hackett.

Whatever the case, don't we all have the right to mock and laugh at AuH2O for his quote that used to be in my sig?

[Democratic Hawk]

If, indeed, Nelson maintains such a huge lead over Harris and comes out well on top come polling day, I'd like to think it will boost the chances of the Democratic gubnatorial candidate but, then again, such a huge lead for Nelson is probably more a testament to Harris' weakness rather than his strength

Dave

[agcatter]

This race is over.  Unless Jeb suddenly decides to enter (he won't) Nelson should consider himself the most blessed incumbent in the U.S. Senate.

[Gabu]

Does God still want her to run?

[Soaring Eagle]

Does God still want her to run?

Of course. God wants Bill Nelson to have a Happy Election Day.

[The Duke]

LOL @ AuH20

[Ben.]

Its really amazing, a candidate like Nelson should not be costing to re-election in a state like FL.

[Frodo]

Well, Republicans may have better luck in 2012.......   

[minionofmidas]

Over the past month, every senior member of the Harris campaign resigned.

Lol.

[WMS]

Talk about a case study in political suicide by the Florida Reps...