Poll: Potential challengers would beat Reid in 2010

A survey of Nevada voters shows that the Senate majority leader could have trouble being reelected

Published August 24, 2009 2:45PM (EDT)

As Senate majority leader, Harry Reid is the most powerful man in the Senate and one of the most influential people in the country, if not the world. But voters in his home state don't seem all that impressed.

A new poll of Nevadans shows Reid losing to either of two potential Republican challengers. He trails Danny Tarkanian 49-38, and he's behind Sue Lowden 45-40. That follows a survey conducted in May that offered similarly dispiriting results for the senator. At that time, 45 percent said they'd "definitely" vote to replace Reid.

If Reid is defeated, he could at least take some comfort in the fact that his predecessor as the Democrats' leader in the Senate, Tom Daschle, also lost his reelection battle. That was the first time since 1952 that a Senate party leader had been defeated at the polls.


By Alex Koppelman

Alex Koppelman is a staff writer for Salon.

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