Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., is not only trailing in the polls — with her Republican challenger, Rep. Bill Cassidy, taking a slim 48-45 lead — but a majority of voters in the Pelican State now say they disapprove of the job she is doing in Congress, according to a new report from Public Policy Polling, a Democratic polling firm.
Fifty-two percent of voters now say they disapprove of her job performance. Only 42 percent say they approve.
From the PPP report: “Neither candidate is very popular with voters. Thirty-seven percent of voters have a favorable opinion of Cassidy to 41 percent with an unfavorable opinion, numbers that while poor are actually slightly improved from a -8 net favorability rating on the previous poll at 28-36. Landrieu’s approval numbers are worse though — 42 percent give her good marks to 52 percent who disapprove. Those numbers are identical to what they were in late June.”
Louisiana operates a the jungle primary system, meaning all candidates appear on the same ballot, regardless of party affiliation. If no candidate manages on Nov. 4 to earn 50 percent of the vote, then the top two contenders will face off again in a December runoff election.
More from PPP:
A small ray of sunshine for the very vulnerable Landrieu: “Landrieu does at least continue to have a clear lead in the November election. Forty-two perent of voters say they will support her to 34 percent for Bill Cassidy and 12 percent for Rob Maness with 2 percent saying they will support one of the other minor candidates in the race. Maness continues to be no real threat to Cassidy’s chances of finishing in the top two.”
The Louisiana race has garnered national attention as it could decide which party controls the Senate after the midterms. A great deal of money from outside groups has been committed to both Cassidy’s and Landrieu’s campaigns.
Left-leaning outside groups have committed only $2,000 in support of Landrieu, but have spent almost $6.4 million to oppose Cassidy. Meanwhile, outside groups in support of Cassidy have doled out $461,000 to support the Republican congressman and $1.3 million to oppose Landrieu.
“Our last three Louisiana polls have all found Mary Landrieu and Bill Cassidy within 3 points of each other,” President of Public Policy Polling Dean Debnam said. “But overall things have been creeping slightly in Cassidy’s direction.”
