A new poll of the Kentucky Senate race from Fox News shows Republican Rand Paul leading Democrat Jack Conway 50-43.
The survey of 1,000 likely voters, conducted using Rasmussen’s automated polling methods Saturday, shows voters slamming President Obama while still expressing some trepidations about Paul. This is the first Fox News poll of the race.
Seventy-two percent said they were either “dissatisfied” or “angry” about “the way the federal government is working” and 76% said President Obama’s efforts have “not made much of a difference” or “hurt” Kentucky’s economy.
That’s not a great landscape for Democrat Jack Conway, especially when the poll shows 53% of those surveyed saying that the Democratic nominee “agrees with President Obama on issues too often.” Just 26% said he agreed with the president “the right amount.”
Voters have a higher opinion of Paul, with 48% of those surveyed saying they have a favorable view of him. Thirty-eight percent said the same thing about Conway.
Though the poll suggests voters are turning away from Conway, it also suggests they still have some concerns about Paul. Forty-two percent said that are “concerned” Paul is “too extreme” and just 43% said Paul “shared” their “values.” That’s still better than Conway did on that question, however — only 30% of those surveyed said Conway shared their values.
The TPM Poll Average shows Paul ahead 48.7-42.6.
Evan McMorris-Santoro
Evan McMorris-Santoro has covered politics for TPM since 2009. Before that, he was a reporter at National Journal’s Hotline covering election 2008. He started his career covering local politics at newspapers in TN and his native NC.
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