From Morning Consult, South Dakota is noted as having two of our nation’s most popular US Senators:
I don’t understand the Bernie thing, but John Thune and Mike Rounds are neck in neck at the #7 most popular US Senator and the #9 most popular US Senator in the country… which doesn’t bode well for any potential challengers to Rounds in 2020.
Thune’s popularity has translated into an inability for Democrats to challenge him with any serious candidate candidates… if at all.
With Rounds’ popularity nearly at the same level, Democrats may be forced to just give the Senator who is in the middle of his first term “a bye,” and not challenge him for office as they did with Thune.
“Morning Consult is the official polling partner of POLITICO, Vox, Fortune, and Bloomberg News”. From their home page. You really should consider the source.
Yeah, a useless poll in my eyes.
Why, that’s readily evident from their love of Bernie.
LOL.
Rounds is for big government/big business… Wants the government to handle our money… That I do get!
It really is worse than worthless. If I’m a top 10 Senator in the eyes of Politico and Vox, then I’m failing the American experiment. A Republican on this list would have a low threat value to the efforts of the Democrats on in this list.
Why does it look like you’re posting as both Kelly and “lowly independent?”
In the eyes of politico? They polled South Dakotans.
Exactly
Pat, that’s not the case. Why would you choose to blur my comments when you have the best view of where a comment originates ?
I do have a view. That’s why I bring it up.
I would suggest you review your systems.
So South Dakota has 2 Republicans that make the top 10 list for the most liberal Senators, with a hard left socialist leading the pack? You would think that would make Cory Heidelberger happy, but partisan politics will prevent that from happening.
Hold on; Vermont is full of liberals and hippies and South Dakota has a lot of conservatives, so I think that equating being on this list to being liberal is nonsensical.
“South Dakota has a lot of conservatives”
South Dakota once had a log of conservatives. Either they changed or they are not paying attention.
Well, perhaps South Dakotans look at Bernie Sanders and Nancy Pelosi and think, “Eh, Thune and Rounds are pretty good in comparison.” I would like to have a Ted Cruz or Mike Lee, but I do prefer a Thune and a Rounds to the Sanders, Pelosi, McConnell, or McCain.
Did you ready the article? This is a ranking of popularity done by polling registered voters in each of the senator’s home state. The fact that the polling firm is affiliated with liberal media outlets doesn’t change the poll results. It’s not a ranking by Politico or Vox. And it’s not a ranking of liberals or conservatives. I guess that some of you just can’t handle the idea that our two senators are liked by the voters of South Dakota.
It’s pretty obvious this list is lacking a Bill Janklow.
Steve/Kelly,
Your anti-Thune and Anti-Rounds bias is causing you to say nonsense.
Morning Consult asked the people who hired these Senators if they approve of the job they are doing. And Thune and Rounds are in the top 10% of this measure.
I know this puts in you in a small minority, most of whom are liberals. If you are comfortable with the company you keep, don’t worry about it.
Troy, did the poll ask those who actually follow how Thune and Rounds vote?
You are sounding a lot like Heidelberger. I am not anti-Thune nor anti-Rounds. I am anti-liberal. I am also anti-propaganda. Sad that so many South Dakotans automatically equate Republican with conservative. The small minority I belong too are the true conservatives…those who were against the two major tax increases during the Daugaard administration. Both issues were soundly supported by the Democrats. So the rock solid majority we have representing us in Pierre are big government liberals. What party they belong to doesn’t really matter.
What this poll tells me is that Vermont is full of a lot of people who don’t want to take responsibility for themselves and believe that government is the answer to their own failure to make something of themselves.
Steve,
No the poll did not ask if they were liberal or conservative. They didn’t ask them about particular views, issues, or votes.
This is really simple. South Dakotans were asked if they approve or disapprove of the job they were doing. Over 60% of South Dakotans approve of the job our Senators are doing. Period.
Troy, my question is how many actually “know” how Rounds and Thune vote, or do they just assume that because they are Republican, they must be doing OK?
Troy blindly accepts methodology. Surely a higher number would result if the question was of registered Republicans ? Followed up with, Do you prefer 1) root AND branch or 2) RINOcare ?
I can see it now on the best sellers list:
Troy Jones ” Methods of madness for arguing with the Low Information Voter”
Steve – Yep seems like around here if you are against an R you are a “liberal”, those people can buzz off for all I care, at least dems will listen to me (as in caucus) this last election cycle proved that the republican party can gave a rats ass about a Lowly Independent!
Kelly,
I can’t tell if it is insecurity or anger but it appears you are having a hard time with the reality overall most South Dakotans are comfortable with their US Senators. You really shouldn’t be surprised since they both were recently elected to office.
Also, as much as you want to make this about issues or an issue, this poll wasn’t about an issue. Its neither good or bad. It just is.
BTW, we live in a republic where we select representatives to vote for us. We are not a direct democracy where every issue is voted on by the public. Thus, expecting our elected represe4ntatives to represent each person 100% is unrealistic. Frankly, it is crazy and stupid.
However, in judging if incumbents are electorally vulnerable, incumbents who:
1) Live a a district/state whose partisan index is in their favor (e.g. a Republican in a state that usually votes Republican which is what SD is),
2) Have a high approval rating in general (what this poll measured), and
3) Hae a net positive rating inside their own party (which wasn’t measured but is the reality of Thune and Rounds)
are deemed electorally safe. I know you wish it was otherwise with regard to Rounds and Thune, you are free to do what you can to change the reality, but the gibberish you said in this thread doesn’t help your cause. Just saying.
I think everyone understands that you can’t agree with some 100% of the time, you support whomever you agree with the most… Thune?… OK fine, Rounds? I don’t think so.
Steve,
This poll didn’t ask that so anything either of us say is merely speculation.
RINO’S are popular because the cater to progressives in both parties and avoid taking on the tough issues. These teo, along with our congresswoman Noem, have very poor “conservative” ratings.
The downfall of the radical Left will be it’s fragmentation as it’s demands of ideological purity is turning it’s supporters into warring factions.
Conservatives would do well to learn from their mistake.
One historical advantage the Left has always claimed was unity in advancing their cause, even if only in increments. Now that they’re beginning to lose that edge, let’s not form a circular firing squad when we can’t win every battle, all or nothing.
It is conservatives who are being shot at by the SDGOP Establishment, and this blog. So are we just suppose to ignore that?
Troy
Stuff your insults. It highlights your Progressive side. It’s one thing to be popular and another to be principled. YOU, prefer popular. As you reference history, principles used to be popular. Not so much today…
Beal, not to get too involved in this fray but the distance between ideological purity and renaming vs repealing is quite the leap
Kelly,
Hope you are less angry today. Going through life angry makes it harder than it needs to be.
Where do you see the anger?
Policy voting does not Lie, quit acting like a conservative
Kelly I’m laughing out loud. You obviously don’t know Troy Jones. I do and can promise you the last thing on the face of the earth he cares about is his popularity.
“Policy voting does not lie” I have no idea what that means.
All I know is that I agree most of the time with how Senator Thune, Senator Rounds, and Congresswoman Noem vote and I’m proud to have them as my representatives.
What specifically do you disagree with them on their votes? Do you think that disagreement is sufficient reason for you to have Tom Daschle, Tim Johnson or Stephanie Herseth representing you?
Troy I am very concerned that our delegation does not speak up and raise concerns with the Trump Campaign team working with Russia in our elections. During the campaign Trump openly invited Russian hackers to hack the political opposition. Many of us grew up and lived during the cold war the Republican’s in Congress years ago would of raised hell over this regardless of what party our President would of been a member of. Being an American over party or Party over being an American when it comes to the integrity of our elections and national security? At least a few of our Republican Senators and those in Congress are speaking out.
Yes, that should be a concern. In addition, those who are most concerned about that are working with Saudi Arabia, who is funding the Muslim Brotherhood’s Islamic Jihad, whose purpose is to establish a global caliphate. The Establishments of both parties are allowing U.S. funding of terrorism for the sole purpose of preventing Russia from getting its hands on Middle Eastern oil and natural gas resources. Ironically, Trump’s son-in-law recently cut a deal with the Saudis that will provide even more military power to the Jihadists for years to come. Not exactly sure that move was all that pro-Russian.
According to the American Conservative Union’s rankings, Thune and Rounds vote conservative about 75% of the time. There are 23 Senators vote more conservative than Thune and 33 who vote more conservative than Rounds in 2016. The top 10 conservative senators are in the 90% percent tile, with 2 at 100% over the last two years. Yes, Thune and Rounds are better than liberal Democrats. Based on conservative principles they fall short over 20% of the time. I expect better performance.
If those South Dakotans knew those facts, would they have answered differently? If not, then South Dakota is not all that conservative. I believe those who believe in true conservative values on a consistent basis are in the minority.
Perhaps what the poll demonstrates is: which senators are better at making people happy with federal dollars. Pierre is addicted to federal money. Despite a huge influx of cash from Obama’s stimulus package, South Dakota legislators passed two major tax increase packages on its people. That is not conservative. That is tax and spend liberalism.
Steve,
#1: The issues which determine whether people are conservative or not are selected by people I don’t know and when I look at the issues they choose many are of marginal importance to me while they don’t consider the issues important to me. Nor are they weighted. Thus, I consider such scorecards of little value to me.
#2: Of the 25 issues they selected, 9 are issues in which one of Rounds or Thune or both didn’t vote for the ACU position of which 6 one voted according to ACU and the other didn’t.
#3: So there are three issues where according to ACU they are decidedly not conservative. What are they?
S2012: ACU gives there reason for voting against it. On national security grounds, I think a yes vote justifies the negatives of ACU. I find the ACU position against the national security interests of the USA and thus liberal.
HR2028 Merkley Amendment: Over a $95mm research & development expenditure, Thune & Rounds are liberal. Again, I think there are national security grounds for such R&D. And, because of the amount, I find it ludicrous this is in the top 25 votes to determine one’s ideology.
SJR28: A $14mm catfish inspection expenditure is really going to make the top 25 votes. This makes the ACU look trivial and stupid.
Take these votes out (or in the first two cases properly reverse the true conservative position) and Rounds and Thune are ultra-conservative. Agree or disagree Steve, this scorecard is pretty darn arbitrary and capricious and you sure are putting alot of faith in people you don’t know. Seems almost like a form of idolatry. 🙂
For the record, Bernie Sanders received a big fat zero on the ACU scorecard. So that should give it some credibility.
fair enough. 🙂
Some other low information types are starting to notice (sorry Troy & Chatlie)
I just called Senator Thune’s and Senator Rounds’ offices and asked them to support Senator Cruz’s Consumer Freedom Option amendment to the lame Health Care bill currently in the senate. It’s the only thing that will make their inability to hold their promise of repeal palatable.
Please call. They need to hear from us!
Senator Thune: (202) 224-2321
Senator Rounds: (202) 224-5842
Minnehaha Republican Facebook
Kelly,
I had done so weeks ago. The best aspects of the amendment is how it will make the transition from Obamacare to this acts long term stability easier (stopping/reversing premium increases) for those in the individual market while actually stimulating embedded positive changes in the market as a whole.
Because Obamacare was passed with 60 votes and we don’t have 60 votes, some parts of “repeal” can’t come legislatively but have to come in the market whereby some aspects of Obamacare starve via its inherent inefficiency, high cost, and ineffectiveness. This bill is a good way to encourage the non-legislative repeal.
We support Cruz’s plan too and have called Thune & Rounds. In fact, we call our gov, state and district reps often about our thoughts on many issues. Unfortunately, we hang up thinking the conversation goes no further. I often find myself wondering if they actually hear us? Though Thune, Rounds & Noem could be more conservative for our liking, we still would approve. Great conversation in comments, thanks;)
Kelly,
I want to make it clear that while I like the Cruz amendment it isn’t complete. Without some other changes in the bill to address pre-existing conditions and portability, other conservatives like Tim Scott, Pat Toomey, and one or both the Idaho Senators drop away.