{"id":2284,"date":"2007-09-25T18:19:00","date_gmt":"2007-09-26T00:19:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/09\/domenicis-approval-rating-falls-to-41-percent\/"},"modified":"2007-09-25T18:19:00","modified_gmt":"2007-09-26T00:19:00","slug":"domenicis-approval-rating-falls-to-41-percent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/09\/domenicis-approval-rating-falls-to-41-percent\/","title":{"rendered":"Domenici’s approval rating falls to 41 percent"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici\u2019s<\/a> approval rating has fallen 11 points in the last month, and it\u2019s now below the 50-percent mark for the first time. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The newest SurveyUSA poll<\/a>, released today, is bad news for a GOP senator who keeps ending up on lists of endangered incumbents even though he hasn\u2019t yet drawn a high-profile Democratic challenger. Domenici\u2019s support is at 41 percent, down from 52 percent in August, and he\u2019s increasingly looking vulnerable.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cThe people of New Mexico<\/st1:state> are clearly unhappy that Pete Domenici is more loyal to George Bush and his failed policies than to the families of New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state>,\u201d state Democratic Party Chairman Brian S. Col\u00f3n said in a news release<\/a>. \u201cThis poll confirms that Domenici is in serious danger of losing his job when New Mexicans go to the polls next year.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

It\u2019s also an indication that national groups that have attacked Domenici for failing to support an immediate withdrawal from Iraq<\/a> and new renewable energy standards<\/a> are having an effect.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The news for Domenici could get even worse. The survey of 600 adults was conducted Sept. 14-16, just before Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington<\/a> listed Domenici as one of the 22 most corrupt members of Congress<\/a> for his role in the U.S. attorney scandal<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The poll has a margin of error of 4.1 percent.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Domenici\u2019s support began falling below 60 percent earlier this year as his reputation was tainted by the U.S.<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region> attorney scandal. It fell as low as 51 percent in June before climbing in July to 55 percent. It appeared at that point that the senator was on the rebound.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Then the assaults on Iraq<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region> and the environment began, and Domenici\u2019s support fell again in August. But the 11-point dip is the biggest in any month since the U.S.<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region> attorney scandal broke.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

In the newest survey, 54 percent said they disapprove of the job Domenici is doing. Disapproval was 47 percent among Anglos and 58 percent among Hispanics. It was at 66 percent among Democrats and 58 percent among independents.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Support for U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman<\/a>, D-N.M., meanwhile, fell in the newest poll to 58 percent, down three points from August.<\/p>\n

Domenici has three lesser-known Democratic challengers thus far: Don Wiviott<\/a>, Jim Hannan<\/a> and Leland Lehrman<\/a>. Lehrman has done little to indicate he\u2019s running an active campaign. Hannan has been consistently running ads attacking Domenici in newspapers in Las Cruces<\/st1:city>, Albuquerque<\/st1:city> and Santa Fe<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>. Wiviott, a Santa Fe<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> developer, has pledged $400,000 of his own money to jumpstart his campaign.<\/p>\n

\n

Update, Sept. 26, 7:35 a.m.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The Santa Fe New Mexican<\/a> ran an article today about the poll. In it, Domenici spokesman Chris Gallegos said the poll \u201cis so far removed from our own professional survey research it verges on ludicrous.\u201d And state Republican Party spokesman Scott Darnell said he doesn\u2019t believe the poll.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re confident that Pete Domenici will be re-elected next year, based on his strong track record and his lifetime commitment to New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:State>,\u201d Darnell told the newspaper.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici\u2019s approval rating has fallen 11 points in the last month, and it\u2019s now below the 50-percent mark for the first time. The newest SurveyUSA poll, released today, is bad news for a GOP senator who keeps ending up on lists of endangered incumbents even though he hasn\u2019t yet drawn a high-profile […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2284","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=2284"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2284\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}