Virtually 100% of the voters who formed an opinion of Casey since the last Keystone poll in February 2006 have decided that they are now "unfavorably " disposed toward him or are undecided. His favorable rating remained unchanged.
As Casey 's unfavorable 's increased, a statistically significant 5-point shift occurred toward Santorum in a still-hypothetical Casey v Santorum Senate race.
38% remain in the "don 't know enough about " Casey to have an opinion column. If the trend continues on its current path, the majority of those voters will opt for Santorum as they learn more about Casey.
Conclusions:
- The voters are tired of Rick Santorum. They want a new Senator.
- Casey is not the new Senator they want!
The official Democratic leadership line that "only Casey can beat Santorum " in November now appears to ring pretty hollow. The developing trends suggest that Santorum will catch and pass Casey, perhaps months before the November election, despite the evidence that Santorum is a very vulnerable candidate. The mounting evidence would seem to suggest that Casey is even more vulnerable than Santorum.
Postscript:
Ranking of the "favorable " ratings of those Polled by Keystone:
1 | 2
