If Republicans thought they could make the Oregon race for U.S. Senate competitive, a poll released this week by Survey USA has to be discouraging. Progressive Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley holds a monstrous 50-32 lead over Republican Monica Wehby. Republicans had hoped Merkley, an unabashedly liberal freshman Senator, would be vulnerable to a Republican challenge in 2014, but so far Wehby has not gained any traction to unseat him.
Although Wehby defeated a more conservative Republican, Jason Conger, in the state’s GOP primary, the Merkley campaign has not allowed her to successfully paint herself as a reasonable moderate. Merkley’s campaign wasted no time after her primary victory, immediately running ads linking her to the extremist ideology and the regressive policies of national Republicans. In addition, Wehby’s campaign has been embarrassed by revelations that she stalked an ex-boyfriend and that she was accused of striking her ex-husband during a domestic disturbance, while they were still married.While these stories no doubt did little to help her campaign, it also appears that Oregon voters just are not much interested in right-wing Republican ideas.
Not only is Merkley leading Wehby by a huge margin, but Governor John Kitzhaber also enjoys a double digit lead over his Republican opponent. Kitzhaber is up 48-35 over Republican Dennis Richardson according to SurveyUSA. In his first term as Senator, Jeff Merkley has charted a progressive course, and voters in Oregon seem happy with that choice. Merkley is aligned with the progressive and populist wings of the Democratic Party. Republicans assume that Merkley’s progressive positions make him a weak candidate, whose liberalism they can exploit to launch Wehby to victory. However, the SurveyUSA poll casts doubts upon that flawed analysis. Instead, Merkley’s liberalism appears to make him a strong candidate, with voters eager to support him for taking bold stands on a wide range of issues.
Republicans are not just behind in the race, they are losing by nearly twenty percentage points…its not even close.
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