Scott Brown is as unliked in New Hampshire as he was in Massachussets. But don't let the Washington Post bother themselves with "reality"
There is no worse purveyor of stale Beltway conventional wisdom than the Washington Post's The Fix. Chris Cilizza may be its worst offender, but clearly he's not the only one give tripe
like this from Sean Sullivan, on the New Hampshire Senate race:
Since launching an exploratory committee last month, Brown has tried to parlay the every-man appeal and off-the-cuff conversational style that made him a hit in a 2010 special election into success in a neighboring state.
But Shaheen can also lean on her personal appeal and status as a known quantity. She was governor before she was senator, and a recent Suffolk University poll showed that more than half of the state's likeliest voters (53 percent) held a favorable impression of her. Out of 15 other names tested, only Gov. Maggie Hassan (D) had a higher favorable rating. A more recent WMUR Granite State survey pegged her approval rating at 49 percent, with 35 percent holding an unfavorable view.
Thus, the battle of personal likability could end up being a wash.
That
Granite State poll has Shaheen at 49-35, yes. Scott Brown? Just
39-29 29-39. So no, not a wash. Not even close.
And that Suffolk poll? Yup, Shaheen is at a stellar 53-37. Curious that Sullivan didn't mention Brown's 33-43 underwater rating. Indeed, Brown is the most unpopular -- by far -- major politician in the entire state of New Hampshire. So no, not a wash. Not even close.
And what's worse for Brown is that the trends in the state are running away from him. Witness PPP's fresh new poll for the League of Conservation Voters, which pegs Brown's favorabilities at 35-49. It was 34-40 in January, a net drop of eight points.
So it's a head-scratcher when Sullivan writes, "Brown has the national wind at his back right now." In fact, it's downright asinine and devoid of reality, which really, for The Fix, is par for the course.
Exhibit B? Sullivan claims that Obamacare is a winner issue for Brown. Reality?
Two-thirds of New Hampshire residents back a proposal to use government funds to pay for health insurance for poor residents, a New England College poll shows [...] The poll of 774 state residents taken two weeks ago, showed that 66 percent back the bill, 25 percent do not [...]
And who could forget
this? Oh well.