New Poll: Ernst’s Lead “Evaporates,” Approval Underwater After New Ethics Scandal, Downplaying Iowa’s Coronavirus Spread

A new public poll released today shows that Iowa Senator Joni Ernst’s lead has “evaporate[d]” against Democratic challenger Theresa Greenfield and her approval is underwater at just 37 percent. This devastating new poll comes after a report last week revealed that Ernst possibly broke the law by concealing the names of her campaign staffers — the second potential violation of campaign finance laws for the Iowa senator this cycle after the AP reported that her campaign could be illegally coordinating with a dark money group set up by her former aides to support her re-election.

Ernst has also spent months downplaying the coronavirus crisis as it has ravaged Iowa, saying the state has “fared pretty well” and pushing to “reopen” while repeatedly taking credit for funding for hospitals and testing that she voted to block. 

With Mitch McConnell’s super PAC spending nearly $13 million on Iowa airwaves to keep Ernst in the Senate — its second-largest initial fall investment — it’s clear that Republicans are worried about the vulnerable Ernst as her support among Iowans continues to plummet.

“Iowans are clearly not impressed with Senator Ernst’s repeated ethics scandals and failure to take this public health crisis seriously,” said DSCC spokesperson Helen Kalla. “Senator Ernst went to the Senate promising to ‘make Washington squeal,’ but all she’s done is marched in lockstep with Mitch McConnell’s agenda to gut health care protections and put big corporations first, and she’ll pay the price for her failure to stand up for Iowa come November.”

Public Policy Polling: Iowa Races Closely Matched

May 4, 2020

Key Points:

• PPP’s newest Iowa poll finds that both the Senate race and the Presidential race in the state have tightened since the winter.

• In the Senate race Joni Ernst leads Theresa Greenfield just 43-42, an indication that Iowa could make for another tough hold for Republicans on a map that’s been expanding for Democrats. When PPP previously polled the race in December Ernst had a 6 point lead at 47-41. Ernst has taken a hit in her popularity- only 37% of voters now approve of the job she’s doing to 43% who disapprove.

• The Presidential race looks like a toss up as well. Donald Trump now leads Joe Biden just 48-46 in a state that he won by 9 points in 2016. Mirroring a trend seen in other polls of Biden polling surprisingly well with older voters, he leads Trump 52-44 with seniors.

• 70% of Iowans think every registered voter in the state should be mailed an absentee ballot so that they can vote from home in the fall, to only 22% who oppose that. There’s bipartisan consensus on the question of letting everyone vote by mail- Democrats (89/6), independents (65/26), and Republicans (54/36) are all in favor of it.

Read the full story here.

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