Remember what "Dandy" Don Meredith used to sing in the early days of "Monday Night Football," when the game fell out of reach?
"Turn out the lights ... the party's over."
"Turn out the lights ... the party's over."
Well, if the latest polling data are any measure of the re-election chances of Sen. Harry Reid, Nevada voters stand ready to sing the same refrain to their four-term senior U.S. senator.
A fresh poll, conducted last week by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research of Washington, D.C., for the state's largest newspaper, the Las Vegas Review-Journal, shows Reid's approval rating again stuck at a dismal 38 percent. This will disappoint a Reid camp that has furiously saturated the airwaves with advertising to, as the campaign puts it, "reintroduce" Harry to Nevada voters.
Apparently Nevadans didn't need a reintroduction. Reid's getting the thumbs down from 49 percent of Nevada voters -- the same high level as the start of the year.
And, to make matters worse, Republicans and independents seem reunited and re-energized by the Obama presidency. Each of the two senatorial front-runners in this latest poll -- Republicans Sue Lowden and Danny Tarkanian -- would defeat Reid if the election were held today.
Lowden bests Reid 51 percent to 41 percent statewide. And what surely scares the Reid war room the most is the part of the poll that shows Lowden leading Reid in the Democratic stronghold of Clark County, 47 percent to 44 percent. It's within the poll's 4 percentage-point margin of error, but that's still a killer number for a Democrat in Nevada.
At the risk of sounding like that Sham Wow guy ... wait, there's more. And none of it is good for Sen. Reid.
This new poll also asked Nevada voters about the health care "reform" bill. Reid is clearly out of sync by a wide margin with voters on this key issue.
Reid's been carrying the water for President Obama on the health care debate in the Senate. He's walked so far out on the plank in support of the parts of the health care "reform" bill Nevadans hate the most that imagining a reconciliation and a retreat to the home ship seems nearly impossible.
Consider this poll question: "Do you approve of or disapprove of Senator Harry Reid's efforts to get a health care reform bill through the U.S. Senate?"
Answer: 50 percent of registered Nevada voters disapprove, 39 percent approve and 11 percent are not sure.
This means success on health care will provide the Reid campaign, at the very best, with zero tailwind going into an election year. Not only does this snapshot of his personal popularity look lousy, Nevadans remain substantially disconnected from his crowning achievement as a legislator and leader: health care "reform." A win for Reid on health care is a loss for him in Nevada.
Not good. Reid simply can't afford to give up any more ground in the polls, for what good comes from being hailed in the streets of San Francisco or the village of SoHo, only to be despised from Elko to Boulder City?
Now, there are always a few wild cards in the deck of any election, especially one almost a year away. But excluding the possibility that Republicans nominate a closet pedophile caught on tape kicking puppies, the chances of a win for Reid seem dimmer than ever before.
Reid needs a flat-out game changer, something in the order of a complete restoration of the economy coupled with the personal apprehension of Osama bin Laden, otherwise ...
"Turn out the lights ... the party's over."
Sherman Frederick (sfrederick@ reviewjournal.com) is publisher of the Las Vegas Review-Journal and president of Stephens Media.
A fresh poll, conducted last week by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research of Washington, D.C., for the state's largest newspaper, the Las Vegas Review-Journal, shows Reid's approval rating again stuck at a dismal 38 percent. This will disappoint a Reid camp that has furiously saturated the airwaves with advertising to, as the campaign puts it, "reintroduce" Harry to Nevada voters.
Apparently Nevadans didn't need a reintroduction. Reid's getting the thumbs down from 49 percent of Nevada voters -- the same high level as the start of the year.
And, to make matters worse, Republicans and independents seem reunited and re-energized by the Obama presidency. Each of the two senatorial front-runners in this latest poll -- Republicans Sue Lowden and Danny Tarkanian -- would defeat Reid if the election were held today.
Lowden bests Reid 51 percent to 41 percent statewide. And what surely scares the Reid war room the most is the part of the poll that shows Lowden leading Reid in the Democratic stronghold of Clark County, 47 percent to 44 percent. It's within the poll's 4 percentage-point margin of error, but that's still a killer number for a Democrat in Nevada.
At the risk of sounding like that Sham Wow guy ... wait, there's more. And none of it is good for Sen. Reid.
This new poll also asked Nevada voters about the health care "reform" bill. Reid is clearly out of sync by a wide margin with voters on this key issue.
Reid's been carrying the water for President Obama on the health care debate in the Senate. He's walked so far out on the plank in support of the parts of the health care "reform" bill Nevadans hate the most that imagining a reconciliation and a retreat to the home ship seems nearly impossible.
Consider this poll question: "Do you approve of or disapprove of Senator Harry Reid's efforts to get a health care reform bill through the U.S. Senate?"
Answer: 50 percent of registered Nevada voters disapprove, 39 percent approve and 11 percent are not sure.
This means success on health care will provide the Reid campaign, at the very best, with zero tailwind going into an election year. Not only does this snapshot of his personal popularity look lousy, Nevadans remain substantially disconnected from his crowning achievement as a legislator and leader: health care "reform." A win for Reid on health care is a loss for him in Nevada.
Not good. Reid simply can't afford to give up any more ground in the polls, for what good comes from being hailed in the streets of San Francisco or the village of SoHo, only to be despised from Elko to Boulder City?
Now, there are always a few wild cards in the deck of any election, especially one almost a year away. But excluding the possibility that Republicans nominate a closet pedophile caught on tape kicking puppies, the chances of a win for Reid seem dimmer than ever before.
Reid needs a flat-out game changer, something in the order of a complete restoration of the economy coupled with the personal apprehension of Osama bin Laden, otherwise ...
"Turn out the lights ... the party's over."
Sherman Frederick (sfrederick@ reviewjournal.com) is publisher of the Las Vegas Review-Journal and president of Stephens Media.
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