Latest Indiana Rasmussen Poll

[erowe1]

As usual for Rasmussen, it's just the general election matchups. But what it shows seems to back up other polls showing that the only role Stutzman is likely to play would be as a spoiler drawing conservative votes from Hostettler.

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/pub...lections/indiana/election_2010_indiana_senate

Election 2010: Indiana Senate
Dan Coats (R)
54%
Brad Ellsworth (D)
33%
Some other candidate
5%
Not sure
9%

Election 2010: Indiana Senate
John Hostettler (R)
50%
Brad Ellsworth (D)
33%
Some other candidate
5%
Not sure
12%

Election 2010: Indiana Senate
Marlin Stutzman (R)
41%
Brad Ellsworth (D)
36%
Some other candidate
7%
Not sure
16%

 

[TonySutton]

No one back home likes Brad anymore. I have been telling them for years he was worthless but they are finally realizing what a piece of garbage he is. Most still have fond memories of Hostettler.

 

[Jordan]

No one back home likes Brad anymore. I have been telling them for years he was worthless but they are finally realizing what a piece of garbage he is. Most still have fond memories of Hostettler.

Truth.

Whereya from?

 

[TCE]

Very, very bad for Hostettler. However, both candidates are largely unknown.

Coats is viewed very favorably by 17% and very unfavorably by eight percent (8%).

For Hostettler, very favorables are 14% and very unfavorables nine percent (9%).

 

[erowe1]

Very, very bad for Hostettler. However, both candidates are largely unknown.

It's not necessarily bad. This was a poll for the general election, so those numbers reflect negativity from Democrats. Hostettler is viewed as a right-wing extremist, so if anything it's surprising not to see higher unfavorability for him. On the other hand, I bet a pretty big part of Coats' unfavorability is with conservatives likely to vote in the primary who resent being told who to vote for. There's a lot of that sentiment out there. If those conservatives divide their votes between multiple candidates, then Coats will win. But if by the time May 4 arrives they see this as a two-man race and coalesce behind Hostettler, then he'll win.

Being largely unknown is also not that surprising, since there's no Bayh or Pence in this race. They'll still be largely unknown on May 4. The people who vote in primaries are a segment of the population that's more serious about politics than general election voters.

 

[MRoCkEd]

DeMint just endorsed Marlin Stutzman... better than Coats but not as good as Hostettler. -.-

 

[JohnG]

No good news, Stutzman is conservative, right? So should draw votes from hostettler mostly On the other hand, the race gets in the spotlight. That's not necessarily a bad thing.

 

[erowe1]

No good news, Stutzman is conservative, right? So should draw votes from hostettler mostly On the other hand, the race gets in the spotlight. That's not necessarily a bad thing.

There's a part of me that wonders if drawing conservative votes from Hostettler so that Coats can win is the whole point.

The truth is, Coats is pretty conservative too, as most Republicans define "conservative." Coats and Stutzman are a lot more alike than Hostettler is with either of them. They're both establishment guys who will be pretty loyal to the party leaders.

Then again, my rational side takes over and I realize that there's no need to be conspiratorial. Stutzman's camp has undoubtedly been working on those Demint and ACU endorsements for a long time, since well before Coats entered the race, and Demint probably has Stutzman's assurance of supporting him for Senate Republican leader, whereas Coats would be expected to back McConnell. I recall seeing an email sent from one Hostettler volunteer to a bunch of others where he said ( I think probably jokingly) that Hostettler needed to go kiss Demint's ring. I laughed because that's not something Hostettler would ever do. It's just not his style.

 

[TonySutton]

Truth.

Whereya from?

I am originally a Castle Knight from Warrick County

 

[John Taylor]

No good news, Stutzman is conservative, right? So should draw votes from hostettler mostly On the other hand, the race gets in the spotlight. That's not necessarily a bad thing.

Stuzman and Coats are both from Northern Indiana. They're going to weaken each other to the benefit of Hostettler. In fact, if we can get Hostettler 50k or so on Thursday, he'll be able to run some good ads and might just be able to pull of a huge upset for the liberty movement... Sure he's not perfect, but he's actually really solid, and he'll be a valuable asset in striking against the empire in the Senate.

 

[Jordan]

I am originally a Castle Knight from Warrick County

Dirty, dirty. Harrison Warrior here

 

[Nathan Hale]

Arggghhh, I hate that Rasmussen doesn't poll primary fields....yet they appear to be the only company polling our primaries lately (especially in CT and IN, where we've been looking for signs of our candidates' position in the field for a while now).