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Dem Poll: Critz 44, Rothfus 38

Rep. Mark Critz (left) still has the lead against his Republican challenger Keith Rothfus - but it's now only single digit.

Rep. Mark Critz (D-Cambria) has had to fight hard to keep his seat. He first defeated a Republican challenger in a heated May 2010 special election, then earned a repeat victory that same November – against the same candidate.

But Republicans have kept their eye on the prize. They redrew the 12th district to make it more conservative leaning in the hopes that they could pick it up this fall.

This April, Critz bested his fellow Dem Jason Altmire (D-Allegheny) in a fratricidal primary race, but he can’t seem to catch a break – because now the lead against his general election opponent is shrinking.

Roll Call’s Shira Toeplitz has the report:

A new Democratic poll showed Rep. Mark Critz leading his GOP opponent, attorney Keith Rothfus, by a slim 6-point margin in the competitive southwestern Pennsylvania district.

Critz led Rothfus, 44 percent to 38 percent, in the survey conducted for House Majority PAC, a Democratic super PAC, and the SEIU.

Benenson Strategy Group conducted the House Majority PAC and SEIU poll of 400 likely general election voters from July 9 to 11. The survey had a margin of error of 4.9 points.

Roll Call rates this race as a tossup.

A previous internal poll from last month put Critz 10 points ahead of his opponent.

15 Responses

  1. Why is the argument always about kids and seniors? I hardly see where seniors are being disenfranchised. OBAMA is killing our healthcare and impending doom to SS. Ryan is attempting to salvage some semblance of these programs for future generations. Look out and do what is best for the Future Generations; Seniors have had their time to succeed. I believe the reference to senior ID is stupid. We have ID. If you know someone who needs it, stop whining and take them to get it. If not, call your party HQ, they will be glad to take you. Don’t assume we are stupid, we have lived longer than you.

  2. John here is an Idea to fix Medicare by making the top 1% pay their fair share. What did the Bush Admin do to fix Medicare? I know they put in Plan D and didn’t pay for it. I forgot Corporations needed a Tax break to create Job… WHERE ARE THE JOBS.

  3. Does Keith the Candidate Rothfus, support the disenfranchising of the Western PA seniors with the Tarsai voter suppression plan? We call upon Mr. Rothfus, the former employee of faith healer Pat Robertson to once and for all denounce the Tarzal voter I.D. plan. Grandma earned her right to vote-don’t take her constitutional rights away when she need to protect medicare and social security! Don’ treat Grandma like an illegal alien!

  4. Keith the candidate Ruthfus will you join the crusade to prevent the plug from being pulled on the constitutional rights of Western PA seniors by calling to prevent the Turzai Voter Suppression law that disenfranchises our seniors. Or will you stand with your extreme right wing Tea Partier’s.

  5. John P- people pay into Medicare and SSDI. SSI is not a premium based program. Medicare has been scheduled to go for broke in 2018 in actuaries for nearly 20 year and the government has done nothing to shore it up. In fact, it has tolerated Medicare fraud in the tens of billions of dollars since the mid-90’s. Even when given a chance to enact measures that would severely reduce fraud , the current administration said thanks but no thanks. Medicare has been broken for a very long time and Congress has done nothing of substance to fix it. Obama signed cuts to Medicare benefits into law with his signature bill.

  6. Dear Dr. Raso: WHAT DOCS AREN’T TAKING MEDICARE PATIENTS IN THIS MARKET? WHAT PLANET ARE YOU LIVING ON? QUESTION OF THE DAY: DOES KEITH THE CANIDIDATE SUPPORT DENYING PA SENIORS THEIR RIGHT TO VOTE THIS ELECTION CYCLE? WILL MR. ROTHFUS DENOUNCE THE TURZAI SENIOR VOTER SUPPRESSION LAW?

  7. The extreme right wing agenda from Rothfus will take away all that you earned in Medicare and SSI. So the ones that are 55 years old and younger you are on your own. This is just to give Corporations more tax breaks so they can pay their CEO millions of dollars so you can’t get healthcare. Older and younger people needs to vote against these extremist. Don’t forget you paid into this ALL your life don’t let them take it away from you.

  8. I think seniors are seeing the difficulty in finding doctors who are taking new Medicare patients. They understand why this is happening and know that taking more money away from it, as the Affordable Care Act does, will only make the problem worse. They also know the Ryan plan doesn’t touch Medicare for seniors already on it (or anyone 55 or over). We need the limited gov’t, lower spending and lower taxes which Rothfus stands for. Soooo glad he is for term limits too. We don’t need anymore career politicians.

  9. Who’s killing COAL in PA…Casey and Critz. They can’t seem to help themselves, killing jobs at every turn. And, YES, OBAMACARE is a killing message, for ALL of us.

  10. Critz joined in and helped save the miners in that mine collapse a few years back. Rothfus was nowhere to be found. Critz may not be a hero but he pitched in while Rothfus doggy paddled in his pool.

  11. This race will certainly be determined by voter turnout.

    PPACA screwed Medicare at a time when people who paid into the system all their lives are ready to become part of it and seniors are well aware of it. People who voted for PPACA will be tagged by seniors as enemies of Medicare/Seniors in this election.

  12. Rothfus should be up at least 10 in this economy. We should have run someone else against him in the primary, what a weak candidate.

  13. Rothfus is a right-wing, Tea Party extremist. He’s promoting Ryan’s Medicare voucher program that’ll decimate seniors. The last thing this district needs is a Tea Party Parrot.

  14. Given that Keith Rothfus has run in almost 70% of the district before and Critz in only around 30% of the district, it is a wonder that Rothfus didn’t start out way ahead of Critz. Rothfus has campaigned in the district since late 2009, you’d think this guy could garner better polling than being stuck in the 30s.

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    Total Voters: 30

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