If internal campaign polls are to be believed, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell may still be a statistical dead-heat with Kentucky Democrat challenger Alison Lundergan Grimes.
Grimes’ campaign reported this week that she’s besting the Republican leader by one point at 43 to 42. The poll also reported an undecided vote of 15%.
However, a NBC/Marist poll a few days earlier showed a decidedly different situation with McConnell besting Grimes by 8 points at a 47-39 margin. Similarly two other recent polls put McConnell up by 4 and 5 points, respectively.
McConnell’s spokeswoman opined, “Alison Lundergan Grimes is dangerously close to losing national interest in her campaign with nine straight polls showing her losing significant ground, so that’s what this poll is about.”
WashPo’s Aaron Blake commented similarly in a tweet that Grimes’ poll is “the this-race-is-still-competitive-please-don’t-give-up internal poll”.
Supposing even that Grimes’ poll is legitimate, that it shows 15% undecided leaves dangerous room for improvement in the midst of a clearly anti-Obama environment. With just over 50 days to go until the midterms, the best bets are on those votes breaking generically to the Republican side of the equation.
