Latest Poll Has Akin Down 9 Points to McCaskill in One Week

In one week Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO) slid to a nine point deficit behind Claire McCaskill in Missouri. And, McCaskill has not even started to run ads in the state.
Akin now trails Claire McCaskill 50-41.

Cook Political says Akin is unelectable following his outrageous rape comments.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported:

U.S. Senate challenger Todd Akin’s support in Missouri has plummeted since his remarks a week ago about “legitimate rape” and pregnancy, putting him 9 points behind Sen. Claire McCaskill in a race he was previously winning, according to a new Post-Dispatch/News 4 poll.

More than half of Missouri voters now view the Republican congressman unfavorably, the poll indicates, and fewer than one in five view him favorably.

Akin’s fall is especially dramatic among women. They were about evenly split between Akin and McCaskill in a similar poll at the end of July, but women now oppose him by almost 20 percentage points. Even in rural areas where Akin retains the lead, his support has dropped significantly from a month ago…

…Akin, long a staunch opponent of abortion rights, was comfortably leading McCaskill, the incumbent Democrat, before the recent controversy. A Post-Dispatch/News 4 poll in July, before the Republican primary, showed Akin ahead of McCaskill by 5 points in a hypothetical matchup, 49-44

…Akin’s favorability rating in a Mason-Dixon poll conducted in July was double his unfavorable rating, 24-11 percent. More than 40 percent of respondents at that time held a neutral view of him, and 23 percent didn’t know who he was.

The new poll has Akin’s favorable-unfavorable numbers at a dismal 17 to 56 percent. An additional 24 percent held a neutral view, while only 3 percent say they don’t know who he is.

But the data also show that Akin has kept majority support in rural Missouri, where he still beats McCaskill with 50 percent or more of the vote. But in those same regions in the July poll, his support was around 60 percent.

In the St. Louis and Kansas City areas, where Akin lagged McCaskill by around 5 to 15 points a month ago, almost two-thirds of voters are now against him.

That, combined with national GOP vows to withhold millions of dollars in financial support that would otherwise have been coming Akin’s way, makes his path to victory especially narrow, Coker said.

“Grass-roots fundraising in a U.S. Senate race doesn’t cut it,” Coker said. “For McCaskill, the resources are going to pour in (nationally). This is a Senate seat Democrats can save that they weren’t sure about” before Akin’s remarks.

Akin has raised $206,000 from Republican and Democrat supporters since his rape comments.

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Jim Hoft is the founder and editor of The Gateway Pundit, one of the top conservative news outlets in America. Jim was awarded the Reed Irvine Accuracy in Media Award in 2013 and is the proud recipient of the Breitbart Award for Excellence in Online Journalism from the Americans for Prosperity Foundation in May 2016. In 2023, The Gateway Pundit received the Most Trusted Print Media Award at the American Liberty Awards.

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