Morning Digest: First poll of Kentucky governor's race offers icky numbers for Republican Matt Bevin
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The Daily Kos Elections Morning Digest is compiled by David Nir, Jeff Singer, Stephen Wolf, and Carolyn Fiddler, with additional contributions from David Jarman, Steve Singiser, Daniel Donner, James Lambert, David Beard, and Arjun Jaikumar. Leading Off ●Morning Digest: First poll of Kentucky governor's race offers icky numbers for Republican Matt Bevin
The Daily Kos Elections Morning Digest is compiled by David Nir, Jeff Singer, Stephen Wolf, and Carolyn Fiddler, with additional contributions from David Jarman, Steve Singiser, Daniel Donner, James Lambert, David Beard, and Arjun Jaikumar. Leading Off ● KY-Gov: Mason-Dixon is the first pollster to release numbers for next year's contest for governor in Kentucky, and they have some unwelcome news for GOP incumbent Matt Bevin. The governor posts an ugly 38-53 approval rating, a big drop from the already meh 45-41 score Mason-Dixon found a year ago. Morning Consult likewise gave Bevin an awful 30-55 rating during the third quarter of 2018. Campaign Action Mason-Dixon also tests Bevin against three prospective Democratic opponents. Attorney General Andy Beshear posts the strongest numbers, with a 48-40 lead over the incumbent, while state House Minority Leader Rocky Adkins edges Bevin 42-41. However, Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes trails the governor by a narrow 47-46. Beshear and Adkins have already announced that they're competing in the May primary, while Grimes hasn't announced her plans yet; the filing deadline is Jan. 29. Kentucky is a very conservative state, but Bevin has excelled at making enemies. Most notably, teachers in over two dozen schools went on strike in the spring after the GOP-run legislature passed a bill changing their pension system. The walkout ended weeks later, after the legislature overrode Bevin's vetoes to pass a separate budget bill that included new money for education. Bevin reacted poorly to the whole episode, particularly the strike. «I guarantee you somewhere in Kentucky today a child was sexually assaulted that was left at home because there was nobody there to watch them,» he ranted. «I guarantee you somewhere today a child was physically harmed or ingested poison because they were home alone because a single parent didn't have any money to take care of them.» Read more