Democrats are scrambling to keep hope alive for embattled Senator Mary Landrieu’s efforts to protect her longtime Louisiana seat from the insurgent campaign of Republican Bill Cassidy.
To wit, they point to polls which consistently show her in the lead over Cassidy by a few points, but that lead is an illusion when the full context is taken into account.
Louisiana’s so-called ‘jungle general’ election allows multiple candidates from any party can appear on the ballot. Bill Cassidy’s support gets split up among a number of other candidates on the ballot, which leaves Landrieu with a clear plurality, reports Newsmax.
The problem for the Team Landrieu, however, is that should the election move to a Dec. 6th runoff between the top two vote-getters, which almost every analyst expects will happen, Cassidy skyrockets to the lead.
According to the latest USA Today poll, the full ballot results put Landrieu at 36% to Bill Cassidy’s 34%. But when poll respondents are asked to pick between the two alone, Cassidy pulls 48% to Landrieu’s 41%.
