The KELOland/Emerson poll has been released, and appears to be good news for Governor Larry Rhoden, as the poll claims he’s going to blow the doors off of the upstart Toby Doeden campaign on a 2-1 basis:
The poll shows 62% of likely Republican voter would choose Rhoden, while 32% would choose Aberdeen businessman Toby Doeden. There are 7% of Republican voters still undecided. The poll has a margin of error of 4.3%.
Rhoden gained a significant amount of voters who had selected U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson in the June 2 primary. The poll shows that 95% of those who voted for Johnson in the primary indicated that they would vote for Rhoden. Only 5% indicated Doeden.
Whoof. That’s going to change the texture of the race – and potentially represents a continued hard shift back from the right.
Ultimately, whether these poll numbers hold true will depend on who shows up, as I anticipate the turnout is going to be brutally low. And the hard right supporters tend to show up whether it’s 120 degrees or 120 degrees below.
Will Doeden shift his tactics, try to appear to mainline Republicans, and quit sending out dickish text blasts, as a PAC did in his support yesterday? We’ll see.
Maybe there is a God after all.