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Rasmussen Poll: Toomey Up Six Over Sestak In PA Senate Race

Thomas Rhiel | July 30, 2010, 10:19AM

Rep. Joe Sestak (D-PA) and former Rep. Pat Toomey (R-PA)

2010 elections, Joe Sestak, PA-SEN, Pat Toomey, Polls

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A new Rasmussen poll of the Pennsylvania Senate race finds former Rep. Pat Toomey (R) out in front against Democratic Rep. Joe Sestak in a race that some polls have shown to be a dead heat. Rasmussen puts Toomey up 45%-39%, a margin comparable to that from Rasmussen's poll of the race from two weeks ago, which gave Toomey a 45%-38% lead.

Other polls have depicted a much tighter race. A July 11 Quinnipiac poll showed Toomey and Sestak neck-and-neck with 43% each, and a PPP poll from June 21 showed both candidates with 41%. Each Rasmussen poll since June, however, has given Toomey a six- or seven-point edge.

The TPM Poll Average of the race shows Toomey ahead of Sestak 43.9%-42.3%. The margin of error for the latest Rasmussen poll is ±4.0 percentage points.

Check out TPMDC's full coverage of the race here.

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Hunter Hussein Thompson

July 30, 2010 11:01 AM

Rasmussen poll: Republican leads Democrat.

The proliferation of these Rasmussen stories on TPM is becoming nauseating.

How about just one, all-encompassing "Rasmussen/OMG!!! Republican is leading Democrat!!!!!111ONE!" story per day?

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ericf

July 30, 2010 11:37 AM in reply to Hunter Hussein Thompson

There's merit to that. Every day there are a bunch of Rasmussen poll stories. I can't help wondering if they're just cranking out polls to drive news coverage. Even if not, not every poll is newsworthy. In fact, probably few are worth covering.

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Dave

July 30, 2010 12:50 PM in reply to ericf

You nailed it! Actually Daily Kos nailed it a few weeks ago. I don't have the link (I'm sure some other reader does) but the gist of it is that Rasmussen is responsible for more than 30% of all polls since the 08 election and yet none of these polls have been within two weeks of any election. Furthermore, when compared to other polls at the same time there's a definite Republican lean. Also, if you read Nate Silver, he's commented on how Rasmussen only polls land lines and never calls back if the person being polled isn't home. I'm sure these problems will be solved shortly before the election though.

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PAvoter

July 30, 2010 11:42 AM

Almost every time I listen to the local news, I hear an ad slamming Sestak as an out of control spender. Some who wants to tax you at 55% when you die. Who wanted an even larger stimulus bill.

And the response from Sestak? I haven't heard any at all.

A tiny article buried in the paper about speaking at local events.

Toomey has his roots cemented in Wall Street banking. Where is the focus on that?

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