Outside the Beltway

Christine O’Donnell Down 21 Points In Delaware Senate Poll

Doug Mataconis · Thursday, October 28, 2010 · 1 comment

For the past week or so, several Christine O’Donnell supporters have been asserting that she was closing the gap with Chris Coons in the Delaware Senate race. While those claims seemed doubtful given the fact that they didn’t ever provide any actual poll numbers to confirm their assertion, the polling in Delaware had basically shut down after the first round earlier this month so it wasn’t clear if any movement had occurred at all.

Well, it turns out there was movement in the polls, but it was decidedly not to O’Donnell’s benefit:

WILMINGTON, Del. — Despite a spate of television ads aimed at reintroducing her to voters, Republican Senate hopeful Christine O’Donnell of Delaware has failed to chip away at Democratic nominee Chris Coons’ strong lead, according to a new poll. She even may be going backward.

The survey released Thursday from Fairleigh Dickinson University-PublicMind shows Coons holding a commanding 21-point lead, with 57 percent of likely voters saying they will vote for him compared to just 36 percent for O’Donnell. O’Donnell trailed by 17 points in a similar Fairleigh Dickinson poll released earlier this month.

“It would be an historic comeback for her to win on Tuesday,” said Dan Cassino, a Fairleigh Dickinson political scientist.

Cassino said O’Donnell, a tea party favorite who spent years as a conservative evangelical commentator on cable television, would probably win in other states that have more social conservatives and a larger tea party presence.

“But there just aren’t enough in Delaware,” he said.

Some of us knew that a month ago.