The new Fox News poll of the Delaware Senate race finds Democratic nominee Chris Coons continuing to lead Republican Christine O’Donnell by a landslide margin — and also reaffirms that the GOP would have likely picked up this seat if they had nominated the original establishment pick, moderate Rep. Mike Castle.
The numbers: Coons 54%, O’Donnell 38%. The survey of likely voters has a ±3% margin of error. In the previous Fox poll from three weeks ago, Coons led by 54%-39%.
By contrast, if Castle were the nominee, he would lead Coons by 50%-33%, up slightly from a 48%-33% margin three weeks ago. Castle had previously considered mounting a write-in bid for the general election, but decided against it a week and a half ago, just as the deadline to file as a write-in candidate ended. (A Rasmussen poll suggested that Castle would not attract many votes, and would siphon more support away from Coons than O’Donnell.)
[TPM SLIDESHOW: Christine O’Donnell: Anti-Masturbation Crusader. Witchcraft Dabbler. Republican Senate Nominee.]
Fox’s analysis points to the absurdity of this election better and more succinctly than I can: “O’Donnell, who used her first television ad to try to dispel the idea that she was a witch because of remarks she made as a television panelist years ago, was viewed unfavorably by 58 percent of voters. Coons was viewed favorably by half of voters.”
The TPM Poll Average gives Coons a lead of 57.0%-37.7%. And just for fun, the TPM Poll Average with Castle as the Republican nominee has him ahead of Coons by 49.2%-35.2%.
Eric Kleefeld
Eric Kleefeld joined TPM as an intern for the final months of the 2006 midterm elections, and then kept showing up for work. His other interests include guitars, old comic books and the politics of various English-speaking countries.
Facebook Conversations
Questions about commenting with non-Facebook accounts like Yahoo, or other concerns? Click here to read the TPM Commenting FAQ.