RASMUSSEN POLL: MORE OF THE SAME IN THE SENATE RACE

The latest Rasmussen Poll of 500 Arkansas voters explores the U.S. Senate race in Arkansas, but no head-to-head match-ups among Republican or Democratic primary candidates.

As we’ve seen in previous polls from this outfit, Blanche Lincoln trails badly among at least 5 GOP contenders for the office. Bill Halter fares slightly better against the Republican candidates, but still would be beat in hypothetical match-ups.

It’s a bit hard to draw conclusions on those one-on-one races other than to say that there is a strong anti-Democratic mood in the electorate. It would be more helpful to see how the Lincoln-Halter race is trending as well as the eight candidate race for the GOP nomination.

More notably, Rasmussen polled voter attitudes on health care reform.

Q: Will the health care plan passed by Congress and signed into law by President Obama be good for the country or bad for the country?

28% Good
60% Bad
3% No impact
9% Not sure

Q: A proposal has been made to repeal the health care bill and stop it from going into effect. Do you strongly favor, somewhat favor, somewhat oppose or strongly oppose a proposal to repeal the health care bill?

55% Strongly favor
8% Somewhat favor
9% Somewhat oppose
24% Strongly oppose
4% Not sure

Public perception remains high that the health care reform measure will be bad for Arkansans. Until elected officials or government agencies can explain with greater detail the positive impact of the new changes, voters will remain skeptical of its benefits. Of course, opponents of the change only need one concrete instance of the new law’s unintended consequences to reinforce current perceptions.

You can access all of the polling questions at this link.