The topline numbers from PPP's first post-primary poll (pdf) in Kentucky's U.S. Senate race are pretty good for Democratic candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes who hopes to unseat Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell: Grimes leads McConnell by a 48-46 margin, with the poll finding 41 percent support her strongly compared with 37 percent who support McConnell strongly.
That's up slightly from PPP's last poll, though down one point from a survey conducted earlier this month by a GOP firm. HuffPost's overall average puts McConnell up by just under 2 points, but that includes polls that are several weeks old at this point. But the big picture story is clear: Grimes is in a great position to unseat McConnell and the best pollster tracking the race shows her with a small lead.
Beyond the horse race, PPP's poll—which was conducted for the Americans for Tax Fairness Action Fund—shows Grimes is well-positioned on issues. Here are the numbers:
Table showing voter likelihood to support candidates by issue
(follow link in post for full numbers)attribution: Public Policy Polling
Except for the last item—cutting the taxes of the wealthy and corporations—each of those positions is a net positive when you also include voters who are merely "more likely" to support a candidate. But in terms of intensity, Grimes has a clear edge over McConnell on the issues that generate the most intensity. Remember, McConnell is the candidate who said creating jobs wasn't his job, and he's the guy who's been fighting for lower taxes for the wealthy, not for making them pay their fair share.
For better or worse, Grimes says she has the same position as McConnell on McConnell's "best" issue—stopping the so-called war on coal. And with such tepid support for his Obamacare repeal stance, you can see why he was trying to fudge his position on it.
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