The Strib released some polling numbers last night and they have to be troubling for Team Franken.
Franken trails Norm Coleman 51-44.
Interestingly enough, Franken only polls 1 point higher than Mike Ciresi, who has been out of the US Senate race for about 2 months now.
Jack Nelson Pallmeyer trails 53-38.
Franken's tax problems have surely led to his disappointing polling recently. It's a major flaw for the Franken candidacy. Franken speaks regularly on the stump of holding Norm Coleman accountable, especially for his time as the Chair of the OVersight Committee.
Jesse Ventura weighs in on the Franken tax mess.
He says he won't rule out running for U.S. Senate and he repeatedly ripped Franken and Coleman with some very harsh words. He said he lives in Minnesota more than Al Franken and when he wrestled for 30 years in different states he knew he had to pay taxes where he earned the money. He wondered why a Harvard grad like Franken wouldn't know that.
Personally, I thought Franken's tax problem excuse was pretty weak. It seemed to be more passing the buck than anything else.
If delegates are smart, they will realize this tax problem would take Al Franken down in the General Election.
Heck, if Al Franken really wants to see Norm Coleman defeated and "Paul Wellstone's seat" back in the hands of a Democrat, he'll step aside and help a suitable replacement.
Jack Nelson Pallmeyer is that man.
Trailing Norm Coleman by 15 points at this point is not a serious issue. JNP simply does not have the name recognition of Franken or Ciresi. He is well spoken and passionate on the stump. He would give Norm Coleman a run for the money.
Favorable/Unfavorable rating:
Coleman: 53% fav 33% unfav 14% DK
Franken: 33% fav 39% unfav 29% DK
JNP: 8% fav 6% unfav 85% DK
Ciresi: 25% fav 15% unfav 54% UK
It's an interesting poll, but a lot of bad news for Al Franken.
1 comment:
There is an interesting trend for Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer here as well. In spite of a nearly complete news blackout on his name, his poll numbers have been increasing rather rapidly, while the "inevitable" Franken's numbers have been dropping.
On March 12, Jack was only 28% to Coleman's 57%. On June 5, Jack was at 36% to Coleman's 55%. That is a 29% increase in less than 2 months. This morning's Strib puts Jack at 38% to Coleman's 53%.
If you want to do an interesting exercise, calculate that possible trend into the future. When I do that, it puts Jack at 77% by the November elections.
This is silly, of course. Jack's main challenge has always been name-recognition. But it is interesting to speculate what sort of "bump" Jack would get from a June 7 endorsement at the state DFL convention.
Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer and Franken have different candidate strengths and weaknesses. In my opinion, Franken's weaknesses cannot be solved with money. Jack, on the other hand, only needs just a little more money and publicity to be the most electable candidate that Democrats could field against Coleman.
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