Survey Says
A new survey suggests that one Iowa Democrat has an uphill battle on issues during this midterm election. Given the source, you might not be surprised at the findings, but they’re worthy of mention.
The polling was commissioned for former vice president Mike Pence’s political nonprofit group, Advancing American Freedom. The group is in the middle of a $10 million campaign to help Republicans in the midterms as Pence evaluates his own political future. The polling examined voter attitudes in four congressional districts: Minnesota 2, Pennsylvania 8 and Kansas 3, as well as Iowa’s third district, which is currently represented by Democrat Cindy Axne, seeking her third term.
The survey shows that 25 percent of registered voters in those four districts name “inflation and gas prices” as the top concern…another 12 percent said their top priority was the “economy and jobs”. The Iowa GOP noted yesterday that Axne was among those who parroted the administration’s earlier line that inflation was merely transitory.
And among all-important independents, who generally decide Iowa elections, 32 percent in the poll hold Biden or Democrats in Congress “most” responsible for inflation and rising gas prices. As for energy, 60 percent of voters believe the Biden administration is not doing enough to increase domestic energy production; specifically, 59 percent of voters favor speeding up construction of the Keystone XL pipeline which was stopped early in the Biden term, and 56 percent of voters support the federal government granting energy companies new leases to drill for oil and gas on federal lands.
Again, beware any poll that is commissioned by—and with results released by—a group aligned with a partisan political cause. But I don’t think either Republicans or Democrats would seriously question the numbers.
The trick is how that plays out in November…and that is still anyone’s guess.
