Sen. Bob Casey Jr., D-Pa., deserves re-election, 40-33, poll respondents say, and he is preferred against an unnamed GOP opponent in 2012, 43-35. Obama-Congressional Republican tax deal supported by a margin of 69-24, new Quinnipiac Poll reports.
By Peter L. DeCoursey
Bureau Chief
Capitolwire
Capitolwire: – A plurality – but not a majority – of Pennsylvania voters say U.S. Sen. Bob Casey Jr. has earned re-election to another term.
“Although there is a sense in the political community that Casey will be a strong bet for re-election, his numbers are not overwhelming,” said Quinnipiac Poll assistant director Peter Brown said.
The poll surveyed 1,584 registered Pennsylvania voters, from Dec. 6 to Dec. 13. Its results carry an error margin of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.
Almost two poll respondents in five, 39 percent, said they approve of the job Casey is doing, while 29 percent disapprove.
Forty percent said he deserves another term, while 33 percent said he does not. When asked if they would vote for Casey over a Republican opponent, 43 percent said yes, while 35 percent said no.
Harrisburg attorney Marc Scaringi and state Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Jake Corman, R-Centre, have said publicly they are exploring challenging Casey’s re-elections. No other potential candidates have confirmed they are exploring a U.S. Senate bid.
Corman and Scaringi and other Republicans have said the unpopularity of President Barack Obama’s policies will affect voter’s views of Casey, since he has voted for many of the major Obama policies that the GOP has attacked.
But those policies and Obama are more popular now than they were a month ago or earlier this year, the Quinnipiac Poll showed: voters are now split 45-45 on whether Congress should repeal the health care law passed by Obama. The poll included only one night of surveys after a federal judge in Virginia ruled that part of it was unconstitutional.
On the day the U.S. Senate overwhelmingly voted for the tax-cut-extension deal negotiated by Obama and congressional Republicans, the poll showed Pennsylvania voters approved of it, 69-24.
Not my vote he does not listen to the people that brought him to the party. He needs to go.