A new poll taken for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee shows that South Dakota Senator Tim Johnson holds a commanding 70-19 lead over potential Republican candidate Steve Kirby. The poll also shows that 72 percent of South Dakotans approve of the job Johnson is doing, with only 15 percent disapproving. South Dakota’s senior Senator is rated favorably by 79 percent of voters and unfavorably by only 12 percent.
As Kirby has publicly toyed with a potential run over the past few weeks, his standing with voters has actually deteriorated. In a poll taken in December and published by Badlands Blue, Johnson led Kirby 67-29. Since then, Johnson’s standing in a head to head match up has improved by three points and Kirby’s has dropped by ten.
“Tim Johnson is in a commanding position for re-election, with one of the highest job approval ratings of any Senator in the country,” DSCC spokesman Matthew Miller said. “South Dakotans haven’t forgotten Kirby’s history of running slash and burn campaigns or his investments in companies with questionable business practices. Usually, candidates rise in the polls as public attention around them increases, but what’s most telling about this poll is that the more people find out Kirby is considering a run, the more his standing drops as voters remember who he is. Kirby’s ten point drop before he even enters shows that his candidacy would be fatally flawed from the start.”
The poll of 500 likely voters was conducted for the DSCC by the Feldman Group from February 25 to 27. It has a margin of error of 4.4 percent.
http://www.dscc.org/news_item?press_release_KEY=524
