Rasmussen: Roberts Trails Orman In Head-To-Head Kansas Senate Race

FILE - In this Saturday, Sept. 6, 2014 file photo, Sen. Pat Roberts, left, R-Dodge City, and Greg Orman, Independent for U.S. Senate, speak at the conclusion of their Senatorial Debate at the Kansas State Fair in Hut... FILE - In this Saturday, Sept. 6, 2014 file photo, Sen. Pat Roberts, left, R-Dodge City, and Greg Orman, Independent for U.S. Senate, speak at the conclusion of their Senatorial Debate at the Kansas State Fair in Hutchinson, Kan. On Friday, Sept. 12, 2014, Roberts posted an online ad attacking independent candidate Orman as a liberal pretending to be a Kansas conservative and immediately faced demands from the challenger to remove the spot over "manipulated" audio from a recent debate. (AP Photo/The Hutchinson News, Lindsey Bauman) MORE LESS
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The day after the Kansas Supreme Court ruled that the Democratic Senate nominee should be removed from the November ballot, Rasmussen is out with a new poll showing independent candidate Greg Orman ahead of incumbent Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS) by five points in a head-to-head race.

Orman leads Roberts among likely voters 45 percent to 40 percent without Democratic nominee Chad Taylor on the ballot, according to Rasmussen. The question of whether another Democrat will be on the ballot is still to be resolved, but the poll is further evidence that Orman fares much better if he doesn’t have to contend with a Democratic candidate.

When Rasmussen gave respondents a choice among all three candidates, Taylor received 9 percent of the vote and Roberts held a slight edge over Orman, 39 percent to 38 percent.

Other recent polls show Orman faring much better with Taylor gone. A Sept 17 Fox News poll gave Orman a sizable advantage, 48 percent to 42 percent, without Taylor on the ballot. Democratic firm Public Policy Polling put Orman up 41 percent to 34 percent with Taylor on the ballot in their Sept. 16 poll. A Sept. 8 Survey USA poll found Orman up with a 1-point lead, 37 percent to 36 percent, if Taylor were still on the ballot.

The Rasmussen poll, conducted Sept. 16-17, surveyed 750 likely voters. Its margin of error is 4 points.

TPM’s PollTracker average has Orman leading, 39 percent to 38 percent, with Taylor still attracting 9.3 percent of the vote.

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Notable Replies

  1. A nice long battle royale with the Kansas Republican Secretary of State trying to force the Democrats to run a candidate so their guy can win should do wonders for Roberts’ poll numbers.

  2. Avatar for mames5 mames5 says:

    Over at RCP, Rasmussen is using all three names on the ballot, so they record it as a Roberts +1. Anyone know why Pollster has GOP odds at 56 percent and a Dem hold of the Senate at 44? Are they really taking a Vox Populi poll of New Hampshire seriously? One would think that the Dem odds have improved since the Kansas decision…Sam Wang has the Dems at 93 percent if the election were held today.

  3. People here already believe Kobach is a fool for demanding Taylor stay on the ballot. These shenanigans he’s pulling in the courts are souring his image in the eyes of people who thought he was OK before.

    He’s cutting his own throat.

    Edit: Oh, and I seriously doubt any Democrat would step up at this point in the game, especially because the R’s are squealing for one to jump in. They’re fucked.

  4. I thought a doofus image was a Bagger selling point.

  5. So in that photo… Orman’s lapel pin has the US/Kansas flags, and it looks like Robertson’s has US/and what looks like some other red flag on it… I know it’s not Virginia.

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