Democrats are on the verge of a major upset victory deep in Trump country, according to a new bipartisan poll shared first with TPM.
Democrat Conor Lamb leads Republican Rick Saccone by 48 percent to 44 percent in a survey conducted by RABA Research, a bipartisan firm. That would mark a huge upset in a conservative district that stretches from Pittsburgh to the West Virginia border that President Trump won by 20 points in 2016. It would give Democrats their first House special election victory of the Trump era on Tuesday night.
That marks the largest lead for Lamb seen in any public polling so far — but it’s not far from what other public and private polls have found in recent days and weeks on the race, most of which have found a margin-of-error race with Lamb having the momentum. Two other public polls of the race found each candidate with a three-point lead, and Republicans are privately sounding more than a little gloomy about Saccone’s chances on Tuesday.
Trump plans to campaign there on Saturday to try to goose GOP base turnout for Saccone, who has mightily struggled with fundraising and getting his name out there as GOP outside groups have had to pick up the slack with millions of dollars worth of TV ads. But according to the survey, the president is currently unpopular with the district’s most likely voters, with 48 percent of those saying they definitely or probably plan to vote in the race disapproving of his job performance to just 44 percent who approve. Similarly, the poll suggests a lopsided edge for Democratic enthusiasm: Though the district is fairly solidly Republican, 41 percent of those surveyed said they were Democratic and 40 percent identified as Republican.
That could be a sign that the survey’s sample is a touch too Democratic, and that its likely voter screen might be a bit too tight. But it could also be capturing the very real signs of a Democratic wave — a huge disparity in voter enthusiasm from one party to the other.
The poll of 707 interviews was conducted via an automated phone survey and an internet supplement for those who only have cell phones from March 6-8. Its margin of error is plus or minus 3.7 percentage points.
The full memo is below.
In this case, I don’t mind if Trump endorses the candidate who supports steel tariffs
Finally, a Lamb is on the good side of the slaughter…
I live in the district. This sounds right for my neck of the woods, but look at the number of college grads/post grads and I think it’s not as representative of the border counties or the district as a whole. The race is probably tighter than it appears here. GOTV!
The article doesn’t say when the election is. Is it next week?
Good luck when the shitshow comes to town on Saturday.
ETA The article does say Tuesday, so I assume the election is on the 13th.
Well geez, if Dems lost midterms under Obama when he’d just pulled us back from the brink of worldwide financial meltdown, then this by all rights should be a republican slaughter with extreme prejudice.
The only real question is how deep will the repub cheating and Russian abetting go this time.