Sen. Chuck Grassley’s (R-IA) approval rating among Iowa voters has taken a hit since Senate Republicans said they would refuse to consider President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, according to a new poll commissioned by liberal groups and released to Politico on Monday.
Just 42 percent of voters had a positive view of the historically popular Iowa senator, according to the poll, which was commissioned by the Constitutional Responsibility Project, a group pushing for the Senate to consider Merrick Garland’s nomination, and the League of Conservation Voters. The polling was conducted by Hart Research Associates.
Grassley’s approval is still relatively high, but in a Hart Research Associates poll from two years ago, 60 percent of voters had a positive reaction to Grassley. In a Des Moines Register/Mediacom poll conducted shortly after the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia’s death in February showed Grassley earning 57 percent of Iowa voters’ approval.
The six-term senator has long been popular in his state, but he may be more vulnerable in 2016 due to the Senate Republican blockade of Obama’s Supreme Court nominee and the potential for Donald Trump to become the party’s presidential nominee. As the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, the committee in charge of hearings for judicial nominees, Grassley has become the unlikely focal point for Republicans’ bid to stop Obama from appointing a Supreme court justice. Democrats have recruited former Lt. Gov. Patty Judge to challenge Grassley for his Senate seat.
According to the new poll, 43 percent of Iowa voters have a less favorable view of Grassley due to news coverage of the Supreme Court blockade, while 23 percent have a more favorable view of the senator.
Hart Research Associates surveyed 501 Iowa voters via phone from April 22-24 with a margin of error 4.5 percentage points.
I will personally be volunteering as a campaign worker for any viable Democratic candidate that opposes Grassley in his next election.
We have a real chance of taking Grassley out in 2016. His opponent, Patty Judge is very popular and he has not done himself any favors.
Of course, this will require every Democrat and high minded progressive vote.
This is encouraging. Since Judge announced she hasn’t really done much campaigning, at least that I’ve seen, and I’m uncertain what kind of campaign she would run. Not totally fair to blame her for Culver’s loss that let Terry Braindead back in, but as I recall Culver ran one of those “I’m sorry I’m a democrat” campaigns. More Hogg signs showing up though, so at least he’s trying to reach out to people. If he can bring some fire to the campaign trail I hope he gets the nod.
Democrats need to target Grassley. He needs to pay for being an obstructionist.
It is very disturbing when you can not get the facts straight. Patty Judge is not the candidate running against Grassley. She was recruited by one of the congressional campaign groups but there are three others running. The primary will determine who that is. At our district convention Saturday she was not the best received candidate. State Senator Hogg seemed to be the favorite with Bernie supporter Fiegen a strong second. Quite frankly electing Judge would simply be replacing one career politician with another.
This correction of Judge being the candidate has been posted on other TPM articles. Please get it right!