SALON

Tuesday, Mar 2, 2010 2:25 PM UTC

Poll: Specter regains lead in reelection fight

New survey shows Pennsylvania senator leading Republican opponent

By

Topics: Arlen Specter, D-Pa., Joe Sestak, D-Pa., War Room, 2010 Elections, Pat Toomey, Arlen Specter vs. Joe Sestak,

Don’t call it a comeback: Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa., has been here for years.

Well, not really. Actually, ever since he changed parties for fear of what would happen to him at the hands of conservative former Rep. Pat Toomey in a Republican primary, he’s been in a precarious position. For a while, polls showed him doing well as a Democrat against Toomey, but the numbers started turning over the summer. According to RealClearPolitics, every poll of the race that’s been taken this year showed Toomey leading by at least nine percentage points.

But on Tuesday, Quinnipiac released a new survey that shows Specter leading his Republican opponent by seven percentage points, 49-42. (The margin of error is plus or minus 2.6 percentage points.) Quinnipiac’s last poll, conducted in December, showed the two men tied; before that, the pollster had Toomey up by a point.

There’s still plenty of reason for Specter to worry, though; according to Quinnipiac, much of the incumbent’s lead is based on the fact that most voters — 65 percent — don’t really know who Toomey is. That is likely to change as the campaign heats up.

Quinnipiac also shows Specter with a healthy lead of 24 percentage points over his challenger in the Democratic primary, Rep. Joe Sestak. That’s basically consistent with other data on that race; all the polls of it have shown Sestak trailing badly.

Alex Koppelman is a staff writer for Salon. More Alex Koppelman.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • This photo. President Barack Obama has a laugh during the unveiling of the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas, Tx., Thursday. Former first lady Barbara Bush, who candidly admitted this week we've had enough Bushes in the White House, is unamused.
    Reuters/Jason Reed

  • Rescue workers converge Wednesday in Savar, Bangladesh, where the collapse of a garment building killed more than 300. Factory owners had ignored police orders to vacate the work site the day before.
    AP/A.M. Ahad

  • Police gather Wednesday at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to honor campus officer Sean Collier, who was allegedly killed in a shootout with the Boston Marathon bombing suspects last week.
    AP/Elise Amendola

  • Police tape closes the site of a car bomb that targeted the French embassy in Libya Tuesday. The explosion wounded two French guards and caused extensive damage to Tripoli's upscale al-Andalus neighborhood.
    AP/Abdul Majeed Forjani

  • Protestors rage outside the residence of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Sunday following the rape of a 5-year-old girl in New Delhi. The girl was allegedly kidnapped and tortured before being abandoned in a locked room for two days.
    AP/Manish Swarup

  • Clarksville, Mo., residents sit in a life boat Monday after a Mississippi River flooding, the 13th worst on record.
    AP/Jeff Roberson

  • Workers pause Wednesday for a memorial service at the site of the West, Tx., fertilizer plant explosion, which killed 14 people and left a crater more than 90 feet wide.
    AP/The San Antonio Express-News, Tom Reel

  • Aerial footage of the devastation following a 7.0 magnitude earthquake in China's Sichuan province last Saturday. At least 180 people were killed and as many as 11,000 injured in the quake.
    AP/Liu Yinghua

  • On Wednesday, Hazmat-suited federal authorities search a martial arts studio in Tupelo, Miss., once operated by Everett Dutschke, the newest lead in the increasingly twisty ricin case. Last week, President Barack Obama, Sen. Roger Wicker, R.-Miss., and a Mississippi judge were each sent letters laced with the deadly poison.
    AP/Rogelio V. Solis

  • The lighting of Freedom Hall at the George W. Bush Presidential Center Thursday is celebrated with (what else but) red, white and blue fireworks.
    AP/David J. Phillip

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 6 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: "The Shelter Cycle": Raised in a cult

Recommendations