Sestak w/in margin of error to beat Toomey; McGinty trailing by 13 points.

[Divernan]

This is an excellent poll for retired Admiral/former Congressman Sestak and the Pennsylvania Democrats:

http://www.politicspa.com/pa-sen-mercyhurst-poll-toomey-bests-sestak-mcginty-and-fetterman/73544/

With the Democratic primary looming, former Congressman Joe Sestak remains Senator Pat Toomey’s closest competitor for the general election, according to the new Mercyhurst Poll.

Sestak is just 5 points down, 43-38, compared to Katie McGinty who is down by 13, 47-34, and Braddock Mayor John Fetterman, who is behind by 18, 49-31.

A plurality of respondents, 48%, said that they were Democrats, compared to 41% saying they were Republican. Independents made up 11%.

This is good news for Sestak, who was 6 points down in the latest Harper’s Poll.

There are still plenty of undecideds left, as 13% were unsure in the McGinty-Toomey matchup, 15% in the Sestak-Toomey matchup, and 15% in Fetterman-Toomey.

Mercyhurst University’s Center for Applied Politics surveyed 421 registered Pennsylvania voters from March 1st to 11th.

This poll underrepresented minority voters. This survey polled the following demographics White – 85% and Non-white at 11%. These were the demograhics of PA in 2000.

According to the 2010 Census, 81.9% of the population was White (79.2% non-Hispanic white), 11.3% was Black or African American, 0.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 2.9% Asian, 1.9% from two or more races. 5.9% of the total population was of Hispanic or Latino origin.


My email today from Joe Sestak:

A new poll released yesterday confirmed what we already knew:
“With the Democratic primary looming, former Congressman Joe Sestak remains Senator Pat Toomey’s closest competitor for the general election, according to the new Mercyhurst Poll.” – PoliticsPA, 3/14/16

Five-plus years out of office, and we’re just 5 points down on Sen Toomey – within the poll’s margin of error – and with our closest primary opponent almost three times as far behind us.

Nancy, Pat Toomey is one of the most obstructionist Senators in DC, from his calling an 11-month Supreme Court vacancy “not that big a deal” to describing his filibuster of a transportation bill as doing “something constructive ... I told you we’d kill it and we did.”

It is critical that we replace Toomey with a new Senator committed to a Supreme Court that functions and roads ready for commerce and safe for travel.

I am the strongest Democrat to defeat Pat Toomey and send him back to the lobbying sector – from which he came. Please contribute today to ensure that the best Democrat to defeat Toomey wins the primary on April 26th!

[liberalnarb]

1. How's Fetterman doing?

[Divernan]

2. That info is in my OP

To repeat, he comes in 3rd among the 3 Democratic primary candidates. He trails Toomey by 18 points, 49-31.
Also, to repeat:

"There are still plenty of undecideds left, as 13% were unsure in the McGinty-Toomey matchup, 15% in the Sestak-Toomey matchup, and 15% in Fetterman-Toomey."

[liberalnarb]

3. Sorry, missed that, thanks.

[JPZenger]

4. I'll vote for whoever has a better chance of getting rid of Toomey

I don't think that Sestak or McGinty would be that different on the issues. However, Sestak has certainly proven himself to be a much more intense campaigner. Sestak has never stopped running. He came very close to defeating Toomey in a non-Presidential election year when Dem turnout was low. That same year, the Dem candidate for Governor was slaughtered.

[Divernan]

5. For me a key difference between Sestak & McGinty is fracking.

I've posted McGinty's many ties/history with Big Fracking elsewhere in the Pennsylvania forum.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10747016

When I went to Pitt Law School to hear Sestak's presentation of his positions on international/foreign policy issues, he (as he always does) stayed for unscreened questions from the audience on any topic people brought up. One of those was fracking and I was impressed with his technical knowledge of the process, and particularly of it's negative economic and environmental impacts, and the need for tough enforcement of stringent regulations to minimize those short and long term impacts.

It's that same standard of evaluating both short and long term impacts which he urges for determining the U.S. response to international issues and involvement in military actions.