Of all of the senators fighting to keep their coveted seats in this crucial midterm election cycle, no one’s had as bad a month as Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, who, amid already dire poll numbers after she voted “No” on Brett Kavanaugh (after re-watching his testimony with the sound off), released an ad last week that ended up outing survivors of sexual assault who did not give their permission to be named and named “survivors” who were not in fact survivors. To make matters worse, Heitkamp’s follow-up apology ad may have violated FEC requirements by failing to provide a campaign disclaimer.
After all that, unsurprisingly, Heitkamp’s poll numbers appear to be in an absolute free fall. Valley News Live reports on a new poll conducted October 12 through 19, which gauged opinions over several days after Heitkamp’s disastrous survivors ad published in every major newspaper in the state on Monday the 15th:
In an exclusive poll by KVLY, KFYR and Strategic Research Associates of 650 likely voters in North Dakota conducted between October 12 – 19, 2018, Republican challenger Kevin Cramer leads incumbent Democratic Senator Heidi Heitkamp 56% to 40%, increasing his lead since Gray Television’s September poll, in which Cramer held a 10-point advantage. Heitkamp’s support appears relatively fixed. Only 5% of those supporting her say that they might change their mind, compared to 17% of Cramer supporters who say they may still change theirs.
The favorability numbers are just as grim for Heitkamp. She’s now viewed unfavorably by a majority (52%) of likely North Dakota voters, a number that’s spiked 11% since September. Only 37% of voters now view her favorably. – READ MORE