Harry Reid In Danger of Losing Seat in 2010

12/6/2009, by Proloy Bhatta

HIGHLIGHTS

• Harry Reid would lose to Sue Lowden by 10 points.
• Harry Reid would lose to Danny Tarkanian by 6 points.
• Lowden and Tarkanian are in a dead heat in the Republican primary

Harry Reid's favorable rating is just 38-percent in Nevada according to the latest poll by Mason-Dixon.

But a lot of the coverage on this makes it sound like this is all new news... 38% happens to match his highest approval rating since late 2007.

Here are his favorable ratings since 2006 as per Mason Dixon.

This is what Daniel Stone of Newsweek had to say:

New poll numbers this morning from a Mason-Dixon Poll show the Senate majority leader with a dangerously low state approval rating of just 38 percent.

Although what Stone said was factually correct, it was still a bit alarmist to say "dangerously low" because his favorable numbers were even lower in October 2007.

Instead, let's focus on how Reid would do in a hypothetical 2010 senate race against either Danny Tarkanian or Sue Lowden.

He would lose both of those races.

He is behind Tarkanian by 6 points but behind by an even larger margin to Sue Lowden -- 10 points. Back in October of this year, Reid polled behind each of these two candidates as well.

In a Republican primary, Lowden and Tarkanian are in a dead heat -- garnering 25% and 24% respectively. Sharron Angle is a respectable third place with 13%.