The new Daily Kos/Research 2000 poll of North Dakota finds Republican Gov. John Hoeven way ahead of both possible Democratic candidates in the race to pick up the seat of retiring Democratic Sen. Byron Dorgan.
Hoeven leads liberal talk show host Ed Schultz by 56%-32%, and he leads former state Attorney General Heidi Heitkamp (whom Hoeven previously defeated in the 2000 gubernatorial race) by 55%-34%.
As Kos notes, this is not because of a weakness of these individual candidates, but is because of the weakness of the Democratic Party itself in this red state: “Yet compared to last week’s poll with Dorgan, Dems have only lost a few points against Hoeven, suggesting that it’s general distaste for the Democrats that’s driving down their numbers. Indeed, we asked favorability numbers for the two parties, and the Democratic Party is viewed favorably by just 25 percent of North Dakotans, and just 17 percent of Independents, versus 61 percent disapproval. Republicans, at 39-53, are not exactly popular, but in the battle of lesser evils, certainly in much better shape.”