Post-Primary Polls on Georgia, Colorado, Minnesota and Connecticut

Now that more nominees for governor and Senate have been chosen in this week's primaries, Rasmussen Reports has done quick-hit polls of where the contests stand in Georgia, Colorado, Connecticut and Minnesota. The Minnesota poll was conducted Aug. 12 and the others on Aug. 11.

Democrats start with leads in the Colorado and Minnesota governor's races, and the Connecticut Senate race. Republicans hold the edge in the Georgia governor's race and Colorado Senate contest.

Here are the results:

Georgia

Former Republican Rep. Nathan Deal, who beat Sarah Palin-supported Karen Handel in the GOP primary, leads former Gov. Roy Barnes by 51 percent to 42 percent in the race for governor. Three percent favor some other candidate and 3 percent are undecided. The margin of error is 4.5 points. (Poll link). In four past Rasmussen surveys before Deal became the nominee, Deal's leads had ranged from 3 to 7 points.
Deal is seen favorably by 52 percent of voters and unfavorably by 48 percent, with 10 percent not sure. Barnes, who held office from 1999 to 2003 and was defeated for re-election, is seen favorably by 48 percent and unfavorably by 47 percent, with 5 percent not sure. But while Barnes scores 11 points higher than Deal among voters who see him "very" favorably, he is also regarded "very" unfavorably by 26 percent, double those who have that same strong opinion of Deal.

Both candidates get a high level of support from their own parties, but Deal leads among unaffiliated voters by 56 percent to 33 percent with the rest preferring some other candidate or undecided.

Colorado

In the race for governor, Democrat John Hickenlooper, the mayor of Denver, leads businessman Dan Maes, who won the GOP primary, by 43 percent to 31 percent, with former Republican Rep. Tom Tancredo drawing 18 percent for his third party candidacy. Three percent prefer some other candidate and 5 percent are undecided. The margin of error is 4 points. (Poll link).

Hickenlooper bests Maes and Tancredo when it comes to how positively (or not) voters view them. Fifty-two percent regard Hickenlooper favorably, while 43 percent see him unfavorably, with 5 percent not sure. Maes is viewed favorably by 44 percent and unfavorably by 42 percent, with 14 percent not sure.

Tancredo is seen unfavorably by 52 percent and favorably by 38 percent with 11 percent unsure -- which indicates he cannot hope to be better than a spoiler. Tancredo takes 25 percent of the GOP vote away from Maes.

Thirty-five percent of voters see Hickenlooper "very" favorably, compared with 12 percent for Maes and 14 percent for Tancredo.

Republican Senate nominee Ken Buck, who rode a Tea Party wave to victory in Tuesday's primary, leads Democratic incumbent Michael Bennet by 46 percent to 41 percent with 5 percent preferring some other candidate and 7 percent undecided. The margin of error is 4 points. (Poll link).

Rasmussen had done five previous matchups of Buck and Bennet before the primary, with Buck leading in all by margins ranging from 4 to 9 points.

Buck is seen favorably by 52 percent of voters and unfavorably by 37 percent, with 12 percent not sure enough to express an opinion. Voters are split on Bennet with 47 percent seeing him unfavorably and 46 percent favorably, with 6 percent not sure.

Connecticut

Democratic state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal started out as a prohibitive favorite to succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Christopher Dodd until he was tripped up amid a controversy over past claims he made about his military service. Republican Linda McMahon has run into a buzzsaw of bad publicity about the practices and culture of World Wrestling Entertainment, which she headed as chief executive.
But McMahon appears to be creeping up on Blumenthal, with the Democrat leading her by 47 percent to 40 percent, with 5 percent preferring some other candidate and 7 percent undecided. The margin of error is 4.5 points. (Poll link). In eight previous Rasmussen matchups of the pair, Blumenthal had led by double-digits except for the poll that covered the period when the disclosures broke that he had misspoken about his military record.

Blumenthal, who has always been popular in the state, still gets a favorable rating from 59 percent of voters, with 39 percent seeing him "very" favorably, while 39 percent regard him unfavorably, with 2 percent not sure. McMahon is seen favorably by 52 percent and unfavorably by 45 percent, with 3 percent not sure.

Minnesota

Democrat Mark Dayton, who served one term as senator before deciding not to seek re-election, leads Republican state Rep. Tom Emmer by 45 percent to 36 percent in the race for governor, with 10 percent for Independence Party candidate Tom Horner and 10 percent undecided. (Poll link).
Dayton starts out with a favorable rating of 53 percent while 43 percent regard him unfavorably, with 5 percent not sure. Emmer is seen unfavorably by 50 percent with 40 percent seeing him unfavorably, and 9 percent not sure of their opinion of him. Horner is pretty much an unknown to 30 percent of voters.

Democrats have not held the governor's seat in Minnesota since Rudy Perpich left office in 1991, but the decision by GOP Gov. Tim Pawlenty not to run for re-election, and instead probably seek the Republican presidential nomination in 2012, has opened the door for a Democratic return.

Follow Poll Watch on Twitter