The End Of The Sharron Angle/Tea Party Bubble In Nevada

Following up on Wednesday’s Rasmussen poll that showed the Nevada Senate race down to a dead heat, a new poll from the Las Vegas Review-Journal has Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid pulling ahead of Sharron Angle:

U.S. Sen. Harry Reid has opened a strong lead over Republican opponent Sharron Angle after pummeling her in a ubiquitous TV and radio ad campaign that portrays the Tea Party favorite as “too extreme,” according to a new poll for the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

The Democratic incumbent’s aggressive strategy of attacking Angle’s staunch conservative views from the moment she won the June 8 primary has cost her support among every voter group — from men and women to both political parties and independents — in vote-rich Clark and Washoe counties.

“He’s had five perfect weeks,” said Brad Coker of Mason-Dixon Polling & Research, which conducted the survey. “The race has been all about her, and he’s been doing a good job of pounding her.”

Yet Coker said it’s too soon to write off Angle. More than one-quarter of the nonpartisan swing voters who probably will decide the Nov. 2 election haven’t jumped to the still-unpopular Reid but instead are undecided or in the “other” or “none of these candidates” columns, the poll showed.

“I wouldn’t write her obituary just yet,” Coker said, noting it’s a long way to November. “Three and a half months is a lifetime, and at some point she’s going to be able to start fighting back.”

The Mason-Dixon poll showed that if the general election were held now, Reid would win 44 percent to 37 percent for Angle. Ten percent were undecided, 5 percent would choose “none of these candidates,” and the remaining 4 percent would pick another candidate on the ballot.

Sharron Angle isn’t dead, of course. She could still pull off a win, but it’s going to be a lot tougher than it appeared to be in the immediate aftermath of her primary victory. Once again, it appears that Harry Reid has gotten exactly the Republican opponent he’d want in a year like this.

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. reid says:

    “Angle’s staunch conservative views” — how polite. If she were on the other side of the spectrum, she’d nearly be a communist. Fortunately, she gave Reid enough ammunition for people to see that. People may not like Reid (and I haven’t been paying enough attention to know why, really), but at least he’s not crazy.

  2. It has struck me from the beginning that it was highly likely that a lot of self-proclaimed “moderates/independents” were going to have a very, very hard time voting for Angle. Further, I think that a lot of Republicans, even very conservatives ones, are going to look at Angle and come to the same conclusion.

    The only thing that will keep Angle in the race is the high unemployment rate in NV (~14%) and the dramatic foreclosure rate.

  3. Tano says:

    “The only thing that will keep Angle in the race is the high unemployment rate in NV (~14%) and the dramatic foreclosure rate.”

    That is probably true. But what a sad and bizarre commentary on American democracy. The existence of some truly dire problems has the effect of raising the probability that a truly crazy and incompetent person might get elected.

    Shouldn’t it work the other way? The more serious the problems the more likely we would be to elect a competent person?

  4. sam says:

    “The only thing that will keep Angle in the race is the high unemployment rate in NV (~14%) and the dramatic foreclosure rate.”

    Yeah, wonder how her claim that Reid was engaged in a “bailout” for MGM, when he called a few banks in an effort to get them to extend a loan, is going down?

  5. Brummagem Joe says:

    Bennett was right, this is over. I’ve always thought rumors about Reid’s demise were a bit exaggerated. How else to explain the fact that the only Republicans who put themselves forward as candidates were screwballs. Now it appears they chose the screwy-ist of the screwballs as the GOP candidate with predictable results.

  6. Zelsdorf Ragshaft III says:

    I know it is over for Angle but why is it Reid still polls under 50%? Wait until she slams home the message Reid said there are no illegal immigrants in Nevada’s workforce. Wonder how that information will go down with the 14% unemployed? The choice is quite simple. No matter how radical Angle is being portrayed by the Reid campaign, there is only so much harm she could cause whereas with Reid, the chances of the Democrats retaining control in the Senate and the increase in government intrusion in to all areas of our lives will continue. Factually, Harry Reid is the enemy of liberty. Check out the deficit amount when Republicans held the congress and do the same for the Democrats. The difference is shocking Something like 60 billion for the GOP per year and 800 billion for the dems. The choice is up to the people of Nevada. Government or freedom. I’ll bet freedom wins.

  7. wr says:

    So ZR — Still taking unemployment checks from the government? I notice you never answered my question about whether they were making you lazy and unwilling to find a job… and if the answer is now, why you would assume that about your fellow Americans.

  8. An Interested Party says:

    Far from being “portrayed” as radical by anyone else, the fact of the matter is that Angle’s own words have shown who she really is…

  9. wr says:

    Funny that Zelsdorf never answers questions about the way he’s living off the Federal government, and yet thinks everyone else who takes money is evil. Maybe it’s because he’s white, so it’s okay.

  10. Michael Reynolds says:

    Zelsdorf is on unemployment? Damn. That’s theft, isn’t it? I mean, here I am, paying my taxes and working hard (well, not hard exactly) and he’s suckling at the federal teat? Zelsdorf is spending my money on beer?

    Well, Zels, I’m sorry if you’re out of work, dude. I’ve had troubles myself at times in my life. Never collected unemployment, but that was just luck. I’ve lived on the streets. Slept under a freeway overpass for a while in Austin. I know exactly what it’s like to be afraid of the landlord. I know all the ways to stall on bill paying.

    In fact, that history is part of why I’m a liberal. I know how lucky I am now. I know it’s in large part an accident of DNA. And while I wish my taxes were lower, I have no problem whatsoever helping you out until you get on your feet.

  11. anjin-san says:

    And while I wish my taxes were lower, I have no problem whatsoever helping you out until you get on your feet.

    Second that. I have the good fortune to have a great job and my career is going well. On the other hand, I have a close relative – a bright and talented guy who has been out of work for a year now. And I know well the pain of the fall from a well paid professional to being laid off and tending bar while I look for my next gig.

    I hope my spirit never contracts to the point where I don’t have a helping hand to lend to those less fortunate than I, especially if I am doing well enough to wear Italian suits to work.

    Michael – are you going to be at CES in Jan?

  12. Michael Reynolds says:

    Anjin:

    That’s up to the kid. He’s dragging me to SF for some teen web entrepreneur thing at the end of this month. After that it’s a bargaining session: what I owe him, what he wants, the usual emotional blackmail to which I succumb in the end.

    However, I’m on book tour for most of September, October and November, (Scotland/UK, the US and Australia/NZ) so if it’s up to my wife I will not be leaving the house for anything else for quite some time. Many dark mutterings about me being off having fun, drinking Scotch in Edinburgh while she handles the kid-taxi duties at home.

    Are you familiar with the Seinfeld concept of “Hand?” I got none.

  13. anjin-san says:

    Give me a shout if you want to catch a Giants game while you are in SF. Our office has some pretty good tickets.

  14. Michael Reynolds says:

    Anjin:

    Sounds very cool. Will do.