Another favorable poll for Bell in SD17

BOR has the news.

According to a new poll done by Cooper & Secrest, SD-17 looks great for Congressman Chris Bell.

A poll done August 14 and between 16-18 of 404 likely general election voters in Texas' 17th Senate District shows Bell with huge numbers.

* In the 4-way trial heat for Senate, Bell dominates: 42% Bell, 8% Huffman, 5% Furse, 4% Harpold, and 41% undecided.
* Chris Bell is the best known and best liked of any of the candidates in the field (75% i.d. 44% positive, 26% negative).
* In this district where fully 61% give President Bush negative job performance ratings, as do 67% in regards to the state legislature as a whole, Chris Bell is a clear voice for change.
* Despite the fact that the 17th District is plurality Republican (50% Republican, 33% Democratic), fully 71% REJECT the notion, "It is very unlikely I would ever support a Democrat for State Senator."
* And fully 61% concur, "The Republicans in Austin simply haven't been effective enough; Texas really needs new leadership to solve challenges like the crisis in school funding and ethics in state government."

There isn't a link to a poll memo, so I don't know what the crosstabs looked like. Bell's level of support in this poll is almost identical to that of a poll done in May testing a two-way matchup with Austen Furse. I don't think there's any question that Bell is the frontrunner here. It's just a matter of if he can clear 50% or if he'll need to win a runoff.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on August 26, 2008 to Election 2008