Previously: PPP: Claire McCaskill, not particularly liked (February 1, 2012)

But, then, neither are the republican candidates – when people even know who they are…

Public Policy Polling [pdf] conducted a surveyed of 602 Missouri voters between May 24th and 27th. The margin of error 4.0%:

Q1 Do you approve or disapprove of Senator Claire McCaskill’s job performance?

Approve 40%

Disapprove 50%

Not sure 10%

Q2 Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of Todd Akin?

Favorable 21%

Unfavorable 21%

Not sure 57%

Q3 Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of John Brunner?

Favorable 20%

Unfavorable 23%

Not sure 58%

Q4 Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of Sarah Steelman?

Favorable 30%

Unfavorable 26%

Not sure 45%

Karl Rove’s minions spent all that money and no one knows who their candidate is.

There’s an interesting crosstab:

McCaskill Approval

Approve 40%

Disapprove 50%

Not sure 10%

Democrat

Approve 74%

Disapprove 13%

Not sure 12%

Republican

Approve 9%

Disapprove 83%

Not sure 9%

Independent/Other

Approve 35%

Disapprove 57%

Not sure 7%

[emphasis added]

Interesting. One quarter of self described Democrats are not in the approval column.

Toss Up in Missouri

….There’s no more clarity for the general election than there is for the primary. Claire McCaskill is basically tied with all three of her competitors, leading Brunner 46-44, dead even with Steelman at 44, and down 45-44 to Akin. Little has changed since our last poll when all three match ups came down at 43-43….

So much for being in the center.

On the air, from Claire McCaskill’s campaign:

Announcer: They just keep coming back. Secret money, attacking Claire McCaskill. These big oil and insurance companies don’t want you to know who they are.

But here’s what they want to do:

End Medicare as we know it.

Cut student loans for college.

And keep giving taxpayer subsidies to the big oil companies.

But Claire McCaskill will fight them. Always has, always will.

Senator Claire McCaskill (D): I’m Claire McCaskill and I approved this message.

Our present Citizens United reality, thanks to the Supremes:

Editorial

A Senator Fights Back

Published: April 28, 2012

It is dangerous to challenge the funnel cloud of corporate and right-wing political advertising this year, but Senator Claire McCaskill, Democrat of Missouri, has decided to fight back. She is running commercials that talk directly about the ads trying to prevent her re-election….

….Republican interest groups are outspending Ms. McCaskill and other Missouri Democrats by a 7-to-1 ratio; Ms. McCaskill herself is being outspent by 3 to 1. Though she has raised nearly $10 million, the amount could be dwarfed by the unlimited money at the disposal of Republican-oriented groups.

Once again, as in 2010, Congressional races will be the elections most affected by unregulated slush-fund money. Though “super PACs” and secretive independent groups will be spending hundreds of millions on the presidential race, it is at the Congressional level where big money can have the most impact. Many candidates, particularly in smaller states, cannot compete with independent groups, allowing individual wealthy donors to have an oversized influence on the future of the House or the Senate….

“It is dangerous to challenge the funnel cloud of corporate and right-wing political advertising this year….”

Seriously? As opposed to what? Doing nothing? Ladies and gentlemen, our pundit class.

The election is in November. We’ll know the results at that time. And until that time, if you’re going to go down, you go down swinging.