The GOP's Richard Mourdock appears to have done grave damage to his Senate candidacy in Indiana by his comment that "even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that is something that God intended to happen." Almost nine in 10 Hoosiers heard about the statement, according to a poll released Friday by Howey/DePauw, an Indiana group that boasts both a Republican and a Democratic pollster. And since Mr. Mourdock uttered it on Oct. 23, his Democratic opponent has blown open a massive 11-point lead, the poll shows.
When the group last surveyed voters in September, it found Rep. Joe Donnelly (D) with a statistically insignificant lead of two percentage points. (Its October survey contacted 800 likely voters and had a margin of error of 3.5 percent.)
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Few ever expected the race for this pivotal Senate seat to be a lock for Mourdock, but the state treasurer had been the favorite to win in the right-leaning state. The only other two polls on the race, by Rasmussen Reports, showed Mourdock with a single-digit lead. The seat is one that the Republican Party had counted on having on the way to a takeover of the US Senate.
Among those who had heard of Mourdock’s comments, 40 percent said they were less likely to vote for him, while 54 percent said his words had no impact on their vote.
Mourdock’s fall is less spectacular than that of Rep. Todd Akin (R) of Missouri, a fellow GOP Senate candidate, whose comments about “legitimate rape” in mid-August put the torch to his single-digit lead in the polls. Representative Akin is now a deep underdog against incumbent Sen. Claire McCaskill (D).
Friday’s poll in Indiana also indicates that something has gone very wrong for Mourdock among independent voters. Whether by his rape comments or a flood of outside spending, or some combination of both, Mourdock’s favorability (and support) cratered among independent voters since September, the polling shows.
Outside groups have spent millions on this contest, on both sides. Only three other US Senate races have seen more money flowing in from such groups, according to data from the Center for Responsive Politics.
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