Democratic Rep. John Murtha leads retired Army Lt. Col. William Russell by a little more than 4 percentage points, within the Susquehanna Poll’s 4.9-point margin of error. The poll of 400 likely voters was conducted for the Tribune-Review on Tuesday, amid uproar over Murtha’s statement that some of his constituents are racist…
About 54 percent of voters among those polled say it’s time for someone else to represent them in Congress. About 35 percent say Murtha deserves to be re-elected.
“The most important variable here is that a decisive majority say it’s time for a new person,” said Jim Lee, president of Susquehanna Polling and Research. He attributed some of the unhappiness with Murtha to the congressman’s recent comments.
It’s tough to know how big a factor that is, though, because little attention had been paid to the race, Lee said. Political analysts didn’t expect Murtha to be vulnerable.
Murtha’s last few challengers didn’t come close to toppling him. He won by more than 20 percentage points in 2006 against Washington County Commissioner Diana Irey. He was unopposed in 2004.
This year, according to the poll, it’s different.
“This is clearly a winnable race for Russell,” Lee said.
I’m disappointed that the article doesn’t provide details on the poll, but a re-elect number of 35 percent means that Murtha right now is a dead man walking. You can be sure that the DCCC is about to rush money to western Pennsylvania to help a man who holds our armed services in contempt, thinks his constituents are racist, and who disgraced his office as far back as his involvement in Abscam. Help Lieutenant Colonel Russell retire Murtha by donating here.
