Obama is hurting Democratic Senate candidate in six key races, Gallup poll data show.
In Iowa, Kansas, North Carolina, Georgia, Arkansas and Colorado, Obama’s low approval ratings “have cast a shadow” on his party’s efforts to keep its majority in the Senate.
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Republicans need to pick up a net six seats to take the majority, and they are either tied or leading in all of them. The Kansas and Georgia seats are held by Republicans, but the rest are currently in Democratic hands.
Gallup collected the data from July 1 through Oct. 15 among adults. The sample sizes ranged from 513 in Kansas to 1,744 in North Carolina.
According to the data, Obama’s low approval ratings are particularly damaging to Democratic candidates in Arkansas (29 percent) and Iowa (38 percent). Arkansas has also experienced a shift in party affiliation, with 47 percent of voters now identifying themselves as Republican, compared with 31 percent who say they are Democrats or leaning that way.
Obama earned a 42 percent national approval rating in Gallup’s most recent weekly average ending Oct. 26. Five of the six states are at or below the national average. In Colorado, Obama earned a 46 percent approval rating, which has not done much to help Democratic incumbent Sen. Mark Udall, who is neck and neck with his Republican challenger, Rep. Cory Gardner.
“Though each of these Senate races has its own character, they do not occur in a vacuum,” Gallup analyst Andrew Dugan wrote. “Obama’s lackluster approval rating will probably be a deterrent in motivating less-attached Democratic adults to vote, while in turn providing a turnout motivator for Republicans who are eager to deliver a blow to the president by making him deal with a unified Republican Congress in his last two years.”
