Reid/Angle Race Now Statistical Dead Heat

The Senate race between Majority Leader Harry Reid and Tea Party conservative Sharron Angle is essentially a tie:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is creeping forward and now is nearly tied with Republican Sharron Angle in his bid for reelection in Nevada.

The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Voters in Nevada finds Angle with 46% support, while Reid earns 43% of the vote. Six percent (6%) like some other candidate in the race, and five percent (5%) remain undecided.

This is Reid’s best showing all year and follows a visit by President Obama to the state to help his campaign.

Reid has also been trying to raise doubts about Angle and a solid plurality of voters now have negative perceptions of both candidates. Reid is viewed Very Favorably by just 26% of Nevada voters and Very Unfavorably by 48%. For Angle, Very Favorables are 18% and Very Unfavorables are 39%.

(…)

The survey of 750 Likely Voters in Nevada was conducted on July 12, 2010 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 4 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence.

This is a significant drop from a previous Rasmussen poll that had Angle with an 11 point lead over Reid, and suggests that Reid’s negative campaign, along with Angle’s well-documented gaffes, is starting to work.

If I had to call this race today, I’d say the odds favor Reid winning re-election.

FILED UNDER: 2010 Election, Congress, US Politics, , , ,
Doug Mataconis
About Doug Mataconis
Doug Mataconis held a B.A. in Political Science from Rutgers University and J.D. from George Mason University School of Law. He joined the staff of OTB in May 2010 and contributed a staggering 16,483 posts before his retirement in January 2020. He passed far too young in July 2021.

Comments

  1. Zelsdorf Ragshaft III says:

    I wonder how long it will remain a dead heat when Angle ads showing Reid’s response that there are no illegal immigrants in the Nevada work force? Polls can show what ever the pollsters wish. I seriously doubt Reid retains his senate seat. He can attack her for her personal views however she wins on the issues. They are going to flush Reid out like a American Standard toilet.

  2. Michael says:

    Get a grip everybody. The campaign has not even begun. It is July. Reid in this pole is at 43%. An incumbent at 43% is not a recipe for victory..

  3. reid says:

    Angle’s gaffes, as in statements that revealed a lot about her ideals? People are starting to see what she’s about, and many don’t like it. Big difference between the general population and a Republican primary.

  4. reid says:

    Michael: If the Republicans had nominated a more moderate candidate, then you’d be right; Reid would be in trouble. Against Angle, Reid will probably win. (ZRIII and a few others here have a hard time understanding that the country isn’t actually full of rabid tea party types.)

    I feel weird talking about “Reid” so much here….

  5. sam says:

    Y’all see her on Cavuto, when she was arguing that because Reid made a few phone calls to a couple of banks in a effort to help get a loan extension for MGM (one of the largest employers in Nevada), he was engaging in a bailout? Cavuto tried to explain the difference between a private loan and public money to Angle, but it seems to gone right over her head. For the rest of the interview, he had the look of a man who’s dinner companion keeps farting.

  6. Zelsdorf Ragshaft III says:

    Sam, I don’t know about your, but the MAJORITY of Americans are opposed to most or all of the things Mr. Harry Reid was and is responsible for as Senate Majority Leader. The list is long. Start with Stimulus. Prior to 2006, many folks were doing pretty well financially. Funny. Democrats take contol of the House and Senate because they badmouthed a war they authorized and one of which Harry Reid clearly stated was lost. Well, Sam, have someone explain to you that we spent a trillion dollars we don’t have since January, got nothing for it, and George W. Bush has not been in office for nearly 2 years yet he is still somehow responsible. You can fool all the people some of the time and some of the people all of the time (democrats) but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time and that applies to people who live in Nevada.

  7. wr says:

    If you couldn’t fool these people all the time, they wouldn’t live in Nevada…