{"id":21516,"date":"2010-09-13T20:04:50","date_gmt":"2010-09-14T02:04:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=21516"},"modified":"2010-09-14T11:05:01","modified_gmt":"2010-09-14T17:05:01","slug":"dem-poll-has-teague-leading-pearce-by-7-points","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2010\/09\/dem-poll-has-teague-leading-pearce-by-7-points\/","title":{"rendered":"Dem poll has Teague leading Pearce by 7 points"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Steve Pearce, left, and Harry Teague (Photos by Heath Haussamen)<\/p><\/div>\n

A new poll conducted for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee<\/a> shows U.S. Rep. Harry Teague<\/a>, D-N.M., pulling away from GOP challenger Steve Pearce<\/a> in what has been one of the hottest House races in the nation.<\/p>\n

The two have been neck and neck in polling released over the last few months, but the new poll has Teague leading by 7 points \u2013 51 percent to 44 percent \u2013 and over the magical 50-percent mark.<\/p>\n

The survey of 400 likely voters, conducted Tuesday-Thursday, has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.9 percentage points, according to a DCCC news release. It was conducted by Anzalone Liszt Research.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe more New Mexicans are reminded of the Steve Pearce record \u2013 backing the economic policies that drove our economy into the ditch, like protecting tax loopholes that encourage companies to ship American jobs overseas, support for privatizing Social Security and Medicare, and ripping the safety net out from underneath New Mexico seniors \u2013 the less they like what they find,\u201d Andy Stone, western regional press secretary for the DCCC, said in a news release.\u00a0 \u201cAs this poll shows, voters understand that Steve Pearce is wrong for New Mexico.\u201d<\/p>\n

A recent Albuquerque Journal poll had Teague leading by 3 percent<\/a>. In April, an internal Teague poll had him leading by 1 percent<\/a>. An independent poll showed Pearce leading by 2 percent<\/a> in February, and an internal Pearce poll conducted that same month had Pearce leading by 4 percent<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s been an unquestionable trend: The race has gradually moved from leaning in Pearce\u2019s favor to leaning in Teague\u2019s. Why? A Thursday commentary<\/a> in the Las Cruces Sun-News by Daniel Balke presents some ideas.<\/p>\n

First, he wrote, \u201cTeague is outworking Pearce. \u2026 On March 1, for instance, after little more than a year in office, he held his 100th \u2018Harry in Your Hometown\u2019 community meeting. For New Mexicans not used to interacting with their elected representatives in Washington, Teague\u2019s tireless travel and accessibility provide a refreshing change.\u201d<\/p>\n

Second, \u201cHarry has tapped into one of the Second District\u2019s most politically active constituencies: veterans. Upon arriving in Washington, the congressman demanded a spot on the Veterans Affairs Committee and co-sponsored legislation securing advanced appropriations for the Department of Veterans Affairs. He also led congressional efforts to boost support for veterans suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and established a hotline to help Second District veterans access health and other services in their area.\u201d<\/p>\n

Third, Balke wrote, \u201cTeague is remarkably likable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Update, Sept. 14, 11:05 a.m.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund pointed to its recent TV ads<\/a> attacking Pearce as another factor that has led to the race shifting in Teague\u2019s favor.<\/p>\n

\u201cDefenders Action Fund has just spent a month on the airwaves reminding voters of Pearce\u2019s record, putting $250,000 behind TV ads\u00a0Remember<\/a> and\u00a0Twice<\/a>,\u201d Defenders spokeswoman Jessica Brand said. \u201cThat\u2019s got to be in the mix when discussing considerable movement in this race.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UPDATED: A new poll conducted for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee shows U.S. Rep. Harry Teague, D-N.M., pulling away from GOP challenger Steve Pearce in what has been one of the hottest House races in the nation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,1],"tags":[108,116],"class_list":["post-21516","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","category-uncategorized","tag-2010-election","tag-washington"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21516","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21516"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21516\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}