Poll shows Reid job rating improving - News

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Aug. 24, 2008
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Poll shows Reid job rating improving

But majority still gives Democrat low marks

By MOLLY BALL
REVIEW-JOURNAL

Opinion Polls

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., speaks Tuesday at the National Clean Energy Summit at UNLV, which he hosted. He said the United States should lead the way on alternative energy sources.

Photo by Craig L. Moran.

A majority of Nevada voters continue to think Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid isn't doing a great job, according to a new Review-Journal poll.

However, Reid's job performance rating has ticked up slightly in recent months, the poll of 400 likely voters found. Forty-six percent of those polled thought Reid was doing an excellent or good job, while 53 percent rated his performance fair or poor.

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That's up from a June survey that saw Reid's performance regarded positively by 43 percent and negatively by 56 percent.

The poll was conducted Aug. 13-15 by Washington, D.C.-based Mason-Dixon Polling & Research Inc. and carries a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points.

No politician wants to see a rating that is more negative than positive, said Mason-Dixon managing partner Brad Coker. But everything's relative, and things could be much worse for Reid, a Nevada Democrat, considering how dimly Congress is regarded nationwide.

"He doesn't seem to be any worse off than he was (in June) and maybe even slightly improved," Coker said. "That's the good news, because the numbers on Congress as a whole have been really bad recently."

Coker said the House of Representatives and its leaders, chiefly Speaker Nancy Pelosi, appear to have taken the brunt of voters' anger over Congress going on vacation without passing energy legislation.

"The Senate at least is seen as getting some legislation done, whereas in the House, the speaker is seen as blocking votes on things she doesn't want to talk about," Coker said.

Nonetheless, Reid continues to suffer back home for his role as Democratic leader. That forces him to play a high-profile partisan frontman, a role at odds with the "Independent Like Nevada" slogan of his last campaign.

"His ratings were always very good until he became Democratic leader," Coker said. "He's trying to be leader of a Democratic Party that's tilted more toward the left and more toward the East and West Coasts" than Reid personally.

Reid became the Senate minority leader in 2004 after the re-election defeat of South Dakota Sen. Tom Daschle.

Many have suggested that Daschle's defeat holds warnings for Reid; the South Dakotan also had a moderate image in his heartland state, and high popularity ratings, until he took up his party's mantle.

Reid became majority leader after the 2006 election in which the Democrats took the Senate.

Review-Journal polls in April and September 2006 found 43 percent of Nevadans viewed Reid favorably, 39 percent unfavorably.

In May 2007, it was 46 percent favorable, 42 percent unfavorable.

Reid's rating bottomed out in an October 2007 poll that found just 32 percent of his constituents saw him favorably and 51 percent unfavorably.

"That was when he took on Rush Limbaugh and got hammered in the national press for a couple of weeks," Coker recalled.

"He seemed to learn his lesson and go back to his low-profile style after that."

Since then, Reid's numbers have steadily improved, from 41 percent positive in December 2007 to 43 percent in June and 46 percent today.

A spokesman for Reid said his position in the U.S. Senate is good for Nevada.

"Polls don't matter to Senator Reid," Jon Summers said. "Results do, and he's doing everything he can to leverage his leadership position to deliver meaningful results for our state."

Last week's National Clean Energy Summit, which Reid hosted in Las Vegas, was an example of his clout, Summers said.

Contact reporter Molly Ball at mball @reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2919.

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Please enter your name Name: Please enter your email Email: Please enter a comment COMMENTS : (word count limit is 300) You have reached the maximum number of words allowed Current Word Count: Note: Comments made by reporters and editors of the Las Vegas Review-Journal are presented with a yellow background. ron reynolds wrote on August 25, 2008 11:29 PM: The way you are building up Senator Reid, he should have been added to the ticket as VP candidate. What has he accomplished these last 4 years as the Majority Leader in the Senate? Keep up the good work Senator Reid, the only place your rating is going up is in Nevada. Conniving Neocon: Ba-a-a-ah! wrote on August 24, 2008 07:58 PM: "disgruntled dem" sez: "If you are not familiar with Reid google Dirty Harry Reid." I did, and I did not find anything that looked very authoritative. Just a bunch of anti-democrat propaganda. "disgruntled dem" is just a con in sheep's clothing. Lasvegan wrote on August 24, 2008 04:21 PM: Dirty Harry would be best at handing out porno promos on L.V. Blvd. South to tourists from Iowa. Bohemian wrote on August 24, 2008 11:52 AM: Reid needs to be voted OUT! This guy supports gun bans, tax increases, tax and spend policies, Pork Spending, Amnesty and Drivers Licenses for Illegal Aliens, just to name a few key issues, and has been keeping a vote for drilling here, drilling now from even getting to the Senate floor just like Nancy Pelosi has been doing in the House... last I heard these two dirt bags were elected to represent the wishes of the majority of their constituants, not their personal uber-liber, ultra-left-wing, nut job personal views and opinions and impose them on their constituants and Americans nation-widel and the majority of their constituants and Americans want to DRILL HERE, DRILL NOW! http://www.americansolutions.com/ disgruntled dem wrote on August 24, 2008 10:05 AM: Clean up our party vote out Harry Reid and his political empire. If you are not familiar with Reid google Dirty Harry Reid. disgruntled dem wrote on August 24, 2008 10:04 AM: Clean up our party vote out Harry Reid and his political empire. If you are not familiar with Reid google Dirty Harry Reid. disgruntled dem wrote on August 24, 2008 10:04 AM: Clean up our party vote out Harry Reid and his political empire. If you are not familiar with Reid google Dirty Harry Reid. Harry is for Harry wrote on August 24, 2008 10:01 AM: Kick the Reid's back to searchlight. douglas wrote on August 24, 2008 09:29 AM: the pollsters musta called illegal infiltrators, felons, islamic terrorist cells, and opec members. Sylvia Banes wrote on August 24, 2008 09:23 AM: There are two idiots here. 1. Harry Reid. 2. Molly Ball Read All Comments