Advertisement
ST. PAUL — A new poll puts Sen. Norm Coleman’s approval rating at about 50 percent — low enough that an analyst said he should be concerned about re-election — but the poll also gave the Republican an edge over his declared DFL rivals.
The poll for Minnesota Public Radio News said 48 percent of registered voters said Coleman was doing a “good” or “excellent” job as Senator. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
“Any incumbent who’s below 50 percent should see himself or herself as in trouble,” said Moorhead State University political science professor Barbara Headrick.
Still, the poll of 625 registered voters conducted last week by Mason Dixon Polling and Research says if the election were held today, Coleman would defeat DFLers Mike Ciresi or Al Franken.
In January 2004, Coleman had a 52 percent “good” or “excellent” job-performance rating. Meanwhile, favorable opinions of Coleman have slipped over the last three years. In the most recent poll, 43 percent of respondents had a favorable opinion of him and one-fourth have an unfavorable opinion.
“I suspect that has a lot to do with the fact that Republicans have fallen out of favor nationally across the board over the last couple of years due to the Bush administration’s problems in Iraq and elsewhere,” said Brad Coker, who directs Mason-Dixon.
After a speech at the University of Minnesota on Monday, Coleman said: “It’s a tough political environment. I’m just going to concentrate on doing my job. You know, one month that number is at 53 percent, then at 48, so I really don’t worry about the numbers and what I worry about is whether I am getting things done for Minnesotans and I hope they see that.”
Although Coleman said he doesn’t worry much about poll numbers, he liked the results that said he would fair well in head-to-head matchups against Ciresi or Franken if the election were held today.
If matched up again Franken, the poll results said Coleman would win 54 percent to 32 percent. Against Ciresi, a trial lawyer, he would win 52 percent to 29 percent.
Coleman is struggling with popularity, but his negative ratings are below Franken’s. According to the poll, nearly 8 of 10 Minnesotans know who Franken is and, of them, nearly a third have an unfavorable opinion of him.
“I think Al Franken starts out with baggage,” said University of Minnesota political scientist Lawrence Jacobs. “There’s no doubt that his past career as a comedian is dogging him a bit.”
More than one-third of Minnesotans don’t know who Ciresi is, according to the poll. Political observers say it’s easier to build a profile than to change an unfavorable opinion.
Jacobs said it will be interesting to see how Coleman handles a broad displeasure with Republicans.
“A year ago there was a lot of excitement about the Republican National Convention coming to St. Paul. And lots of folks saw this as a boon for Sen. Coleman — having the convention in his home state, his home city — and yet we may well see that convention as a real problem for him because clearly the Republican Party’s name brand has been tarnished,” Jacobs said.
When asked about DFL U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, 56 percent of poll respondents gave her “good” or “excellent” marks.
