Obama Effect Likely Negative in Key Senate Races

In an election in which President Barack Obama’s mediocre approval ratings have cast a shadow on Democrats’ efforts to maintain their slim Senate majority, his image has remained generally weak in six states featuring competitive races. This includes sub-40% approval ratings over the last several months in Iowa (38%), Kansas […] Read more »

Des Moines Register pollster on criticism of Senate numbers: ‘I’ve heard it before.’

J. Ann Selzer may be the single most powerful pollster in America. She runs the Des Moines Register’s Iowa poll, the gold standard of survey research in what is the single most-watched state, politically speaking, in the country. So when Selzer’s final numbers in the heated Senate race between state […] Read more »

Fox News Poll: 1-point margin in Iowa, Kansas and North Carolina Senate races

“It all comes down to turnout.” That’s one of the biggest clichés in politics. It’s also true in one-point races. Welcome to Iowa, Kansas and North Carolina. According to the latest round of Fox News Senate battleground polls, none of the front-runners in those states hits the 50 percent mark. […] Read more »

Iowa: Without Romney, the GOP Field Is Wide Open for 2016

To understand why the Mitt-Romney-should-run-again camp won’t take its marbles and go home, even after wife Ann says he’s “done, done, done” with presidential campaigns, look to wide-open Iowa. The Bloomberg Politics/Des Moines Register Iowa Poll of likely 2016 Republican caucusgoers shows that while the party’s 2012 nominee leads the […] Read more »