Do Bluegrass Voters Want To Give Up On Their Old Kentucky Homo?

I have no dog in this fight-- or in the battles in any of the states where corporate ConservaDems are opposing reactionary Republicans. I would like to see Shenna Bellows (ME) and Rick Weiland (SD) win their races-- and I'm contributing regularly (can you, too?)-- but who wins Senate seats in Georgia, South Carolina, Mississippi, and Kentucky is pretty academic for me. Or maybe a better way to describe it-- and why I write about these races-- is that they are pure entertainment. If a charismatic coke freak causes Lindsey Graham to lose to a right-wing Democrat in South Carolina, it's just fun and funny. But nothing would be more fun and more funny this cycle than to see venal closet case Mitch "Miss" McConnell lose his Senate seat in November.

And it is looking a lot more plausible than anyone could have imagined a few months ago that centrist Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes-- who has been running a nearly flawless campaign against the increasingly desperate and hysterical McConnell machine-- could beat him. Most legitimate polls have shown her slightly ahead of him. Rasmussen, of course, is just a GOP propaganda operation and McConnell's own firm, VCR has the worst record of almost any polling firm in the country, rivaling the GOP operation that predicted a landslide win for Eric Cantor. SurveyUSA has Grimes up by 1 point and even Republican pollsters Magellan showed Grimes beating McConnell (2 weeks ago) by 3 points.

But VCR has McConnell up by 7 points. As DailyKos has consistently pointed out, there are very good reasons why no one takes VCR seriously as a reputable polling firm. The track record, their delusional clients pay them for, is hilarious. In 2012, working for Republican Linda Lingle, they showed Mazie Hirono beating her by a very narrow 47-43. But Hirono won by 25 points, not 3. In the Democratic primary that year they also showed Hirono, a progressive, beat reactionary Blue Dog Ed Case by 1 point. Hirono beat him by 16 points. They polled Iowa a couple months before the presidential election and they showed Romney beating Obama by 1 point. Every legitimate polling firm-- so, obviously not Rasmussen-- showed Obama winning. And Obama did win, 822,544 (52%) to 730,617 (46%). They were off ny 7 points; that a lot and it's why VCR is considered worthless by everyone except desperate politicians trying to generate "good news" for a credulous media.

Americans for Tax Fairness hired PPP to do a survey this week and, of course, they were looking for real numbers, not propaganda. "The poll, "they reported, "reveals that Kentucky voters overwhelmingly support making the federal tax system fairer to middle-class families by requiring the wealthy and corporations to pay their fair share of taxes. Public support for tax fairness issues ranked as high or higher than some of the most discussed issues in the Senate race." The poll has Grimes beating McConnell, 48% to 46%, with 6% undecided.

The survey shows that by an almost six-to-one margin, 80% to 14%, voters are more likely to vote for “a candidate who wants to close loopholes to make sure millionaires do not pay a lower tax rate than the middle class.” Wide majorities of Democrats (87%), Republicans (70%) and independents (80%) support this position.

The poll also reveals that by more than four-to-one, 76% to 17%, Kentuckians would be more likely to vote for “a candidate who wants to make sure that the rich and corporations pay their fair share of taxes,” including 88% of Democrats, 57% of Republicans and 83% of independents. But they would be less likely by a two-to-one margin, 63% to 31%, to vote for “a candidate who wants to cut the taxes of the wealthy and corporations.”

Voters also said by more than a two-to-one margin, 66% to 27%, that they would be more likely to vote for “a candidate who wants to end tax breaks for corporations that ship jobs overseas.”

The poll also tested public attitudes on a story that broke last week, when McConnell and Grimes introduced competing proposals about how to fund a new Brent Spence Bridge connecting Covington, KY and Cincinnati, OH. The poll found that respondents preferred by more than a six-to-one margin (63% to 10%) Grimes’ proposal to fund new bridge and road construction “by closing tax loopholes benefitting corporations and the wealthy” over McConnell’s proposal to “reduce[ing] wages paid to construction workers.”

“Kentuckians clearly prefer a Senate candidate who will close corporate tax loopholes and end tax breaks for the wealthy,” said Tom Jensen, director of Public Policy Polling. “These issues are as important to them, if not more important, than issues currently being debated in the campaign. The poll suggests that tax fairness could be a sleeper issue in this race.”

“When Kentucky voters say they want a fairer tax system by two or four or six to one, it’s time to pay attention,” said Frank Clemente, executive director of Americans for Tax Fairness Action Fund. “They know instinctively that when corporations and wealthy individuals game the system to avoid paying their fair share, ordinary Kentucky families pay the price.”

McConnell, of course, will deploy all his forces to make the election about anything but these issues and he and his allies will do what McConnell is best know for-- smearing his opponents and avoiding substantive issues. Or he'll just say nothing at all and hope he wins on name recognition and habit. And, by the way, if you want to help progressives win Senate seats in November… here's the place that can be done.