North Carolina Senator Richard Burr is the latest Republican Senator to face a spate of terrible poll numbers, in part based on the unprecedented obstruction of Merrick Garland’s Supreme Court nomination.
A new Public Policy Polling survey in North Carolina finds that “Burr's lead is just 3 points at 39% to 36% for [Democratic candidate] Deborah Ross, and 8% for Libertarian Sean Haugh.” Furthermore, “Burr continues to be pretty unpopular with only 28% of voters approving of the job he's doing to 40% who disapprove.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley’s decision not to do their jobs and hold hearing for Merrick Garland are acting like an anchor around Burr’s poll numbers in the state.
PPP notes:
One issue that's shaping up to cause trouble for Burr right now is that of the vacant Supreme Court seat. 58% of voters in the state think Merrick Garland deserves confirmation hearings for his nomination to the Court, compared to only 24% of voters who are opposed to that. By a 17 point margin voters say they're less likely to vote for a Senator who is opposed to hearings- only 25% say that stance would make them more inclined to vote for their Senator, compared to 42% who say that would make them less likely to.
Burr is just the latest Republican Senate candidate to face electoral peril stemming from his caucus’s acquiescence to their leadership’s obstructionist strategy.
At the beginning of May, we pointed to the myriad of sinking poll numbers and electoral prospects of a number of Republican senators. Now Richard Burr can add his name to a list that includes Rob Portman (OH), Kelly Ayotte (NH), Ron Johnson (WI), Pat Toomey (PA), and even John McCain (AZ) whose reelection chances have been harmed by the GOP’s Supreme Court obstruction.
Grassley has been hurt by the obstruction campaign as well ,with his approval rating in his home state falling to just 47 percent.
For Mitch McConnell, this strategy was premised on the theory that the punishment from the conservative base of the Republican Party if Garland were confirmed to the court would be greater than the penalty from the electorate at large for not taking any action on President Obama’s appointment.
This latest polling suggests that if Republicans continue their intransigence, it will cost them their Senate Majority, and McConnell his present leadership role.
At the beginning of the month we stated, “If McConnell doesn’t reverse course soon and begin confirmation hearings for Merrick Garland soon, the question will be how many Senate seats he is willing to sacrifice to placate his party’s far-right flank.”
Now that number is six and counting.
