A new poll shows Indiana state Treasurer Richard Mourdock leading Sen. Dick Lugar by five percentage points among GOP voters in their May 8 primary clash for Lugar’s Senate seat.
The survey, taken Tuesday and Wednesday by Wenzel Strategies on behalf of Citizens United, backs Mourdock. The poll showed that almost 17 percent of Republican voters remain undecided just 12 days ahead of the primary,
Politico reports. The last Wenzel survey, in mid-March, showed Lugar with a 6-point lead.
Tea partyers, who account for 36 percent of the GOP electorate in Indiana, are responsible for Mourdock’s lead. He’s destroying Lugar in that segment, 63 percent to 24 percent. Lugar leads 61 to 27 percent among moderates. He also holds a lead among traditional conservatives.
Lugar’s favorability rating has dropped to 44 percent from 53 percent since the last Wenzel survey six weeks ago. Mourdock’s favorability rating totals 38 percent. Both candidates’ unfavorable ratings have risen, thanks to the negative tone of their campaigns.
The Club for Growth just reserved another $421,000 of TV ad time to attack Lugar, with a new ad saying he is “clinging to power, throwing mud.” On the Lugar side, the American Action Network backing him has launched a TV ad ripping Mourdock for his “reckless” mismanagement of state money as treasurer.
The Lugar campaign argues that the Wenzel poll is inaccurate. Lugar’s campaign manager Emily Krueger told Politico its internal polling shows “Dick Lugar is, was, and will remain in the lead.” She declined to provide data.
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