Rasmussen: Dayton leads Emmer by 9 percent

[a kennedy]

A Rasmussen poll released on Friday shows DFLer Mark Dayton expanding his lead over the GOP’s Tom Emmer and IP candidate Tom Horner in the governor’s race. The poll also shows that many Minnesota voters see both Dayton and Emmer as extreme in their views and that both have high unfavorable ratings. Forty-five percent of voters preferred Dayton, while Emmer got 36 percent and Horner 10 percent, with 10 percent undecided.

Just under half of those surveyed, 48 percent, said that Dayton held mainstream views while 42 percent said his views were extreme. Forty-one percent said Emmer’s views are mainstream while 40 percent said they were extreme. Horner’s views were rated mainstream by 43 percent of those polled, and 22 percent thought they were extreme.

Only 13 percent of those polled had a “very favorable” impression of Emmer, while 27 percent rated him very unfavorably. Dayton got a 24 percent favorable rating and a 28 percent very unfavorable rating.

Few had much of an opinion of Horner; he rated 3 percent very favorable and 8 percent very unfavorable.

http://minnesotaindependent.com/63564/rasmussen-dayton-leads-emmer-by-9-percent

[MineralMan]

1. Let's all work to increase the size of that lead!

Yes!

[CatholicEdHead]

2. Early poll but still good news

I hope it can last but it is a long ways to November.

Emmer has stuck his foot in it recently (e.g. food server pay), that may fade by November. Expect lots of mud at Dayton, though his talking points work better now in these though times with Wall Street recovering and Main Street floundering. He has taken a class war approach which does resonate nowadays.

[DFLforever]

3. Rule of thumb for Rasmussen's poll

Add 5 points to the Dem candidate.

Puts Dayton up at 14 which would make it identical to Survey USA's poll from earlier this month.

[mascarax]

4. We need to counter the "Dayton Extreme Views" theme every day

As in: it's about FAIR taxation.

What else are his "extreme" views though?!

[Mister Ed]

5. I think the DFL primary battle strengthened us and hurt Emmer

The conventional wisdom is that a primary battle tends to wound and weaken the candidates involved, making the eventual winner an easy kill for the opposition party. I suppose that's often true.

In this primary battle, though, the contenders pretty much laid off of each other in their advertising, and focused their attacks on Emmer instead. Millions were spent defining Emmer in the public mind before he had a chance to define himself - and that, in politics, is a mighty big part of the game.

I say kudos to the three DFL candidates for waging such a relatively clean fight against each other. I hope it becomes a template for primaries of the future.

[Brickbat]

6. I think you're right...Emmer got it from all three sides and couldn't waste time or money on any one

of them. This kind of campaign might, however, increase attack ads from interested corporate parties on behalf of a candidate. I don't know if there were a lot of non-Emmer ads trashing DFL candidates out there; I watch very little TV.

[Mnpaul]

7. You got it

also from the Rasmussen poll

Emmer now has the support of 77% of Minnesota Republicans, while 87% of the state’s Democrats back Dayton. Among voters not affiliated with either of the major parties, 37% prefer Dayton, 27% Emmer and 20% Horner, a former Republican who describes himself as the moderate in the race.

Why does the Trib keep promoting a "rift" in the DFL?

[CatholicEdHead]

8. Hard Primary feelings and IP

since the the Independence Party takes more DFL votes than GOP votes. As much as GOPers talk about voting IP, few actually go through with it.

[trotsky]

9. I feel like it might be different this time.

Emmer is the wingiest wing-nut the MN GOP has ever nominated. Kwazier than Quist. There are still a lot of moderate Republicans in MN - think Arne Carlson - who I believe could never bring themselves to vote for Emmer. A lot of them respect Dayton for his family legacy, but if they can't bring themselves to vote for a DFLer, they'll go with Horner.

[dflprincess]

11. I have noticed a couple homes in my neighborhood that have always

had Republican signs in their yards now have Horner signs. Not that two homes mean much - but it could be a small indication of which way sane Republicans are going.

[Mnpaul]

10. I was wondering about that

and checked out the Survey USA poll(Aug 5th)
http://www.surveyusa.com/client/PollReport.aspx?g=d1f59a92-85c3-4355-93bb-8c888ff8faa0

Horner pulls 5% from the Dems but Dayton pulls 8% from the Republicans. Dayton wins among the church goers, wins among the gun owners, wins among the colledge grads and wins in the $50K + category. It is no wonder they are so desperate.