The only thing we are sure of is that so few people are sure.
According to the latest Franklin & Marshall poll, 65% of registered Democrats are undecided about who to support in the 2016 Senate primary.
Former Congressman Joe Sestak leads the race with 15% while former Chief of Staff to Gov. Wolf Katie McGinty has 13%. Braddock Mayor John Fetterman got 3%.
Two months ago, before Fetterman jumped into the race, Sestak held a 16-13 lead over McGinty.
It is abundantly clear that the battle for the Democratic nomination is very much up for grabs and that each candidate has the opportunity to make their own case in the months to come. The winner will face incumbent freshman GOP Senator Pat Toomey.
This poll was conducted by the Center for Opinion Research at Franklin & Marshall College. They surveyed 303 registered Democratic Pennsylvania voters from October 19th to October 25th. The margin of error is +/- 3.9%.
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11 Responses
I am speaking personally here. I am not a member of the Sestak campaign. I first met him in Harrisburg on his book tour. I thought his “Walk Across Pennsylvania” was cliche, but I had supported him in his last run, so I wanted to see him. He left the Navy as an Admiral to help care for his daughter who had cancer. I bought his book (the profits go to cancer research or treatment, not to him). I decided to throw a fundraiser for him. He largely arranged it with me personally. It was far less effective than I would have liked, but he still stayed late and chatted with us the way a Presidential candidate would in New Hampshire. I do not know for certain I will vote for him because I have yet to research Ms. McGinty, but suffice it to say, she’s got a pretty high bar to clear. As for the poll numbers, Sestak is an outsider in the Party, when McGinty declared her candidacy and many in the national party decided to support it, many people automatically fell in behind her (and certainly most environmentalists).
Before McGinty entered the race . Toomy had advertise the on Tv . Toomy has no one running against him. Sastak lost 49 to 51 present . I hope the democrats don’t let the ones like Rendell decide who your candidate will be . He and others in the party was mad , when Sastak unsettled senator spektor . Spekter was a turn coat ! Republicans would of never vote for a turn coat .
Sastak is. More like a blue dog . When you have one like that. , republicans vote for them , ones back by the democrat party , forget that !
Vote for Sastak we have a chance , with , Katie , she has a D stamped on her . People are able to look them up on their phone or computer .
I just tuned in to Tweet the poll numbers…well, that and to see how much anti-Joe stuff Diano had managed how quickly. Much quickly, on par.
gulagPittsburgh-
Sestak is a terrible debater. Worse than Jeb.
Billy-
Sestak had only a few thousand in his account for a few years, and only started raising money again in the first quarter of 2013. So, I guess after two years of trying and failing to get another job or appointment, he decided to run again.
HaHaHa-
I was thinking of posting:
Fetterman: 68%
Sestak: 15%
McGinty: 13%
That tie is awful
Diano, I thought your schtick was to take all of those unsure voters and make them supportive of your preferred candidate. Couldn’t this mean that 80% (65+15) support Sestak? That logic works for you in all those Kathleen Kane polls.
DD, some would say Joe Sestak has been running for 6 years.
DD: Now you are slandering Sestak with a comparison to JEB!
Observer-
The report shows that the entire field is “weak” at the moment with little recognition by the voters. Sestak’s been running for this office for over two year, collected/spent money, and is nowhere.
Joe’s going to be floundering like Jeb Bush.
Diano thinks that being behind is a good thing and that being ahead shows you are weak. Whaadayaknow?
This shows how little support there is for Sestak after all this time.
McGinty is well within the margin of error of Sestak’s support. And with 2/3 of the voters undecided, the field is wide open.
Fetterman is just starting out, the and polling did not appear to identify the home counties of the candidates (which could show regional preferences). He’s still got a long way to go.
I’d like to see a first question: Do you know who is running for the Dem primary?
This would be very interesting to see how many can list ANY of the candidates.