DSCC Poll Shows Sestak Up Seven In PA-SEN

[MH1]

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/06/dscc-poll-shows-sestak-up-seven-in-pa-sen.php

The DSCC poll, conducted by well-regarded Democratic polling firm Garin-Hart-Yang Research Group last week, shows Sestak leading Toomey by a margin of 47-40 after two weeks in which Sestak has been pounded by Republicans over his statement that the White House offered him a job to stay out of a primary fight with the man he eventually defeated, Sen. Arlen Specter.

...

From the The Fix's report on the poll this morning:

Sestak's favorable scores are still respectable with 34 percent seeing him in a favorable light as compared to 18 percent who regarded him unfavorably. Toomey, who faced no primary, has similar ratings to Sestak with 30 percent viewing him favorably and 19 percent regarding him unfavorably.

Those numbers suggest that roughly half of voters haven't formed an opinion of any sort about either man -- meaning that the campaign each runs will matter in the final outcome.

The poll also suggests that the surge in support that began for Sestak a couple weeks before the primary with Specter has continued in the wake of Sestak's upset victory. Sestak surprised some national Democrats with the way supporters seemed to line up behind him in the primary once they knew he was a candidate. One Pennsylvania Democratic source told me at the time that Sestak's compelling personal story -- as broadcast in a feel-good intro ad in the final weeks of the primary -- was at least as responsible for Sestak's surge over Specter as that infamous "reelected" ad was.

...

There's a lot of campaign left before either man is proven right. But for the time being, it seems Sestak has reset the contest with this primary win.

[blue neen]

1. Considering how the right has hammered away at Sestak for the past couple weeks, this is great!

It's quite interesting that the pundits think that they can predict what Pennsylvanians will think and do! :)