A new Rasmussen survey in the wake of the Senate Judiciary Committee Supreme Court confirmation hearings on Judge Brett Kavanaugh shows that Republican voters “are madder about the Kavanaugh controversy than Democrats are, and more determined to vote in the upcoming elections because of it.”
The report came Wednesday morning and noted that “Sixty-two percent (62%) of Republicans are more likely to vote because of the Kavanaugh controversy, compared to 54% of Democrats and 46% of voters not affiliated with either major political party.”
Perhaps no greater supporting evidence is available anywhere than in Washington State’s 8th District congressional race between Republican Dino Rossi and liberal Democrat Kim Schrier. She had been leading Rossi by two points, but according to a new Crosscut/Elway survey, Rossi has surged ahead by 10 points. It’s all because conservative voters are riled about the Kavanaugh debacle.
Rasmussen said “Sixty-two percent (62%) of all voters are angry about the U.S. Senate’s treatment of Kavanaugh, with 42% who are Very Angry. Fifty-six percent (56%) are angry about how the Senate treated Christine Blasey Ford, the woman who accused Kavanaugh of sexual assault, including 35% who are Very Angry.”
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Some observers might blame it all on Senators Dianne Feinstein, Cory Booker and Kamala Harris, who were unrelenting in their questioning and comments. At the official White House swearing in for Justice Kavanaugh, President Donald Trump offered his apologies to the Kavanaugh family for the way the Senate hearings descended into something akin to a lynch mob mentality.
Crosscut quoted pollster Stuart Elway, president of Elway Research, who noted, “What appears to have happened here is the Kavanaugh hearings have erased [the Democrats’] advantage. Now it looks like what you would have expected this district to look like before everyone was talking about a blue wave.”
A big turnout of Republican voters to elect Rossi could have a ripple effect by also tilting the outcome of the contentious Initiative 1639 gun control measure, and an equally game-changing vote on Initiative 940, a measure that many believe is aimed at tying the hands of police.
Rossi is veteran of the Washington State Legislature, where he was instrumental in passing budgets, and was known for working across the aisle.
With less than a month before the midterm elections, Rasmussen said that the two parties “are now tied.”
