Internal polling shows Democrat Rep. Patrick Murphy with strong job-approval ratings for his U.S. House District 18. The same poll shows him easily defeating two potential GOP challengers, according to George Bennett of the Palm Beach Post.
On possible match-ups, Bennett writes that the Murphy poll has him beating both Republicans — former state Rep. Carl Domino and former state House majority leader Adam Hasner. Each race had Murphy winning by the same 52-to-25 percent margin.
Domino filed a campaign account in July. Hasner has not yet announced his candidacy.
Democratic pollster Keith Frederick conducted the survey earlier in the month, during the first week of the federal government shutdown. More than half of voters in the Treasure Coast Democrat’s district (57 percent) approve of the job he is doing, while 30 percent disapprove.
With independents, Murphy has a 13-point advantage, with 52-to-39 percent approving.
Among Republicans, 40 percent support of Murphy and 43 percent disapprove.
The sample of 300 registered voters was taken Oct. 6-8, with 43 percent Republican, 37 percent Democrat and 20 percent independent. The poll leaned slightly more Republican that the latest registration figures for the district, perhaps in line with actual turnout patterns in a midterm election year. There was a 5.6 percent margin of error.
In 2012, the area went 51.5 percent for Mitt Romney, but Murphy eventually edged out Tea Party Republican Rep. Allen West.
In Murphy’s campaign poll, support for President Barack Obama split evenly, with 48 percent approves and 48 percent disapprove of the president’s job performance.
