Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Poll: GOP ‘no names’ ahead of Harry Reid

WASHINGTON -- More numbers on Democratic Sen. Harry Reid’s re-elect chances out today from Daily Kos show the majority leader losing in potential matchups with Republican challengers.

The Research 2000 poll shows Reid down against Danny Tarkanian, the UNLV basketball player turned businessman, 40-45. Reid also loses to Sue Lowden, the soon-to-be-former chairwoman of the Nevada Republican Party, 41-44.

Or, as Kos puts it, Reid is losing to candidates who are “no names.”

The poll confirms what is well known by now: Reid has an uphill battle for re-election in 2010 even against the party’s second-choice candidates. Results are practically within the margin of error (plus or minus 4 percentage points).

Reid roundly dismissed previous polls showing him down, and his campaign says its own numbers have the majority leader pulling even or better with the potential Republican challengers.

The campaign, team Reid says, has barely just begun. Reid has promised an “aggressive” one.

One interesting point from Kos runs counter-intuitive to the thinking that Reid needs to hew to the center on health care to win Nevada. Kos argues that Reid ought to come out tougher in support of the public option: 52 percent of Nevadans support it, as do 50 percent of the state’s independents. (Republicans, not so much, 21 percent.)

You may remember Kos’ last poll on Reid in 2008. That poll had the majority leader beating former Republican Rep. Jon Porter, a once sought-after Republican challenger, in a potential matchup 46-40. Porter, like the other frontrunners, took a pass.

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