Emily Miller

Columnist

Harry Reid Seen Losing 2010 Reelection, Poll Shows

Posted:

08/24/09

Filed Under:Senate, Democrats, Barack Obama, Polls

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Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) would lose his re-election by a large margin to either of his potential Republican challengers if the voting were held today, according to a new poll.

Reid is up for re-election to a fifth term in 2010. President Obama works closely with the Senate majority leader to push his legislative agenda, so Reid's troubles, which include an extremely low approval rating in his home state, have ramifications beyond his own seat.

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The Las Vegas Review-Journal statewide poll shows that Nevadans favor Republican Danny Tarkanian over Reid, 49 percent to 38 percent, and Republican Sue Lowden over the incumbent, 45 percent to 40 percent.

Reid's current approval ratings are also very low, according to the Review-Journal, with 50 percent of voters saying they have an unfavorable view of him and only 37 percent of respondents saying they have a favorable opinion.

The majority leader's role in pushing Obama's policies through Congress has made him more vulnerable at home because he is linked to the unpopular health care reform and economic packages.

Winning "becomes more difficult when you are actually the one having to carry the water for the president," Richard Davis, a political science professor at Brigham Young University, told the paper. Reid "has got to get something out of the Obama administration that he can claim as his own."

Neither of Reid's potential Republican opponents has declared their candidacy, but both are laying the groundwork for a campaign. Lowden is chairwoman of the state Republican Party, and Tarkanian is a real estate professional and former UNLV basketball player who previously ran for secretary of state and the state Senate. The new poll of Republican primary voters shows Tarkanian is by far the leading contender, with 33 percent to Lowden's 14 percent, while 47 percent of respondents are still undecided.

With the election over a year away, Reid's team plans to raise $25 million for his campaign, emphasize he can bring new jobs to Nevada -- which has an unemployment rate of almost 13 percent -- and will use his national profile to raise voter turnout.

"He fights for Nevada on those issues and others every day, and he'll continue that battle to get our economy back on track," Reid spokesman Jon Summers told the paper.

Republican strategist and Lowden supporter Robert Uithoven, however, responded that "a lot of what drives support toward Senator Reid is fear in this state. And I don't think fear is a good motivation for voters."

No matter who wins the GOP primary, November 2010 will likely be Reid's toughest election yet.

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Emily Miller

Emily Miller, a public affairs consultant in Washington, DC has over 15 years experience in politics and media... more

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Comments (48)

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sandsnnydz

2:12PM Aug 24th 2009

can't happen soon enough... Reid & Pelosi gone in 2010!!

1167 days to go for the rest!!

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(22)

PCL

7:34AM Aug 25th 2009

Yeah, we'll see--don't forget the area that Pelosi represents.

http://splashinthepacific.wordpress.com/2009/08/25/is-there-any-real-difference-between-the-righties-and-the-lefties/

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(0)

Stella

2:13PM Aug 24th 2009

Liberals, it's never too late to change your evil ways.

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(21)

park457799

2:16PM Aug 24th 2009

This is exactly what happens when represent your own agenda or in the case, the Obama agenda. These people were elected to represent the people. I don't understand why they would even consider thinking otherwise. Reid and Pelosi need to go and then some!

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(24)

geomcd

2:17PM Aug 24th 2009

I can't think of a more 'deserving' loss except for Pelosi, Boxer, and Obama.

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(24)

booroy2

2:28PM Aug 24th 2009

FANTASTIC! GOOD BYE YOU LITTLE NERD!

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(19)

suzebeez

2:47PM Aug 24th 2009

"Nerd" suggests that he has some sort of intellect. I'm thinking "twerp" might be more descriptive.

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(18)

ery

2:29PM Aug 24th 2009

klan man

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(8)

glendaaparis

2:53PM Aug 24th 2009

I'm looking forward to the day he is out.

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(14)

Get Smart USA

2:55PM Aug 24th 2009

It's time for Reid and Pelosi to retire...

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(15)

misterxes

3:01PM Aug 24th 2009

I see the liberal wahckos have made up a new story to bla\me on the Rightlmaorotf What is thier obsesion with penises is it envy? Or insecurity? Non the less typical to change the subject because they are LOOSERS! Good bye Dirty Harry don't let the chamber doors hit you in your pasty a--!

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(10)

RUTH

3:20PM Aug 24th 2009

Adios Harry. Do all of us of favor. Take the money that you made from special interests and run away as fast as you can to retirement.

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(11)

ouramel24

5:14PM Aug 24th 2009

Obama is not only the worst thing that has every happened to our nation, but to our politicians and their life long careers as well. Obama's Marxist idiology and corruption is now seen for what it is. May God Have Mercy On Our Nation.

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(9)

DD8V92

5:59PM Aug 24th 2009

Now that is cause for celebration!!!
Time for him and the Queen Mother to go.

Today would be good.

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(7)

jhinds6056

6:13PM Aug 24th 2009

I think it should be mandatory that Harry brings Nance, Barney, the nose, Barbara to Nevada to help him campaign. Let the people of Nevada see up close his chosen associates are. Wait the nose would have his nose up Barney's bunghole so far they wouldn't have time to campaign. At least his young prostitute lover said he was a catcher. The most masculine of them all is Barbara 'don't call me ma'm" Boxer. Something tells me she would like to use a strap-on Nance just to see if she could crack her face.

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(5)

Richard

6:39PM Aug 24th 2009

All I can add here is this...This is going to be for me the most exciting elections I have seen since Vietnam...Chicago Riots, Kent State etc etc ..I believe, we may almost see the biggist landslide for the Republican Party ever seen in America..The 'Silent Majority'(remember them?) make up most of America...National debt now about 9 trillion and climbing...Cap & Trade coming next..Obama quote: "We Are Broke" Yet on and on it keeps coming. Now the villians are Insurance Companies which most of us agree, as with Lawyers and Used car salesman we can agree to some extent...So Fix The Current Mess instead of the insane number of new agencies that that will be involved with Obama/Democrats National health plan.Has anyone ever known a government run anything that is not wastefull or even nominal at best compaired to a private initiative?
The American People have finally woken up from their trance, to see where this Democratic Congress and this President are leading this country, and we are not happy. In credit though to the President, he did tell us....with his background and limited experience, but we did not want to listen..we did not want too hear...all we knew is the hated word Bush...War etc....This is not the 'Change We Can Believe' His past associations with radical groups/friends, and hate filled anti America speeches from his minister of 20 years...his only real job as an attorney community organizer for Acorn...and his limited non productive Senate accomplishments....We see all the bailouts, the takeovers, the trillions of dollars debt...Four times anything Bush did in 8 years all in 6 months! ..We see free passionate speech vilified and said to be un American, We see any opposition viewpoints/questions crushed...and hatefully attacked...We see the arrogance 'We Won'..We want our country back not marginalized or Socialized. We want to take back America not as pawns to a Government, but of America for Americans...Individualism and our values..based on our Founding Fathers ideals written as our Constitution/Declaration of Independance. Do any one of you think Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Barney Frank, Henry Waxman realy have your interests at heart?
Yes indeed there is a role for Government...but not a Government for Everything! Where there is wrong...change it...Do not throw out everything...Make it better, based on the above values....not twisted and manipulated by the likes of the Progressives and the ACLU.
...President Obama is my President...It is his direction/Ideology that is very disturbing

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(5)

DeeDee

10:39PM Aug 24th 2009

You said national debt 9 Trillion dollars????

It's actually 11.7 TRILLION dollars. This year we paid $453,000,000,000 ($453 Billion) in interest on the federal debt. WE CANNOT AFFORD GOVERNMENT FUNDED HEALTH CARE. Even the white house estimate is 21 TRILLION DOLLARS in 2019!!!!!!!!!!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/graphic/2009/03/21/GR2009032100104.html

If we pass this, we are looking at $1 trillion ($1,000,000,000,000)/year in interest on the federal debt in 2019. That's before paying a penny for Social Security, Medicare, and National defense.

How many of you are planning to be alive in 2019???? This affects us all. Get your heads on straight and tell them NO!

Health care reform can be reformed with targeted health insurance regulation to produce a uniquely American market-based universal care system. The "Government Option" for government funded health care reform will bankrupt America and is unnecessary.

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(3)

rnsuitcase

7:19PM Aug 24th 2009

REID NOT THE ONLY ONE THAT WON'T GET RELECTED!!!! GLENN BECK EXPOSED TODAY THAT OBAMA HIRED A CZAR THAT IS A COMMUNIST AND RADICAL. THE AMERICA GIANT HAS AWOKEN, THE PUBLIC, WE KNOW OBAMA IS A COMMIE AND REMAINS A CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER TO AMERICA.... THE RADICAL LEFT WILL BE GONE SOON, AMERICA WILL TAKE BACK CONTROL OF THE COUNTRY.... THE OBAMA 9 TRILLION DOLLAR DEBT HAS TURNED AMERICA INTO A BANANA REPUBLIC...

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(9)

jrotced02

7:26PM Aug 24th 2009

Suppose you explain waht a communist is, and on what legal grounds, he shouldn't be hired?

By the way...

The Glenn Beck advertiser boycott has officially reached the mainstream as the AP ran a story today about the advertiser backlash that Fox News and Glenn Beck are facing after he called President Obama a racist. Clorox became the latest big name to drop Beck.

The AP story is essentially a rehash of what we have been writing about here at Politicus for the last couple of weeks. The interesting twist is that Clorox has not only dumped Beck, but has decided not to advertise on any political talk shows, regardless of whether they are liberal or conservative.

A topic that I addressed on Friday when it was announced that Verizon Wireless, was dumping Beck is the potential impact on ad revenue that might come with all of these big name companies dropping him. The Glenn Beck show draws over 2 million a viewers a day, but without big name advertisers competing for the ad slots during his show, ad revenue will fall.

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(-7)

bob

10:38PM Aug 24th 2009

Kind of ironic in that Clorox is used to make whites, whiter.

Someone should look into that. Sounds kinda racist to me.

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(2)

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