Awardgate Hurts Kirk in the Polls

The furor surrounding Mark Kirk’s “misremembered” military award seems to have dragged him down in the polls slightly. 

Kirk now leads opponent Alexi Giannoulias by 3-percentage points (42-39%) in a Rasmussen poll taken on June 7. The poll has a 4.5 point margin of error and sampled 500 people.

The GOP Senate candidate led Giannoulias by 8-percentage points (46-38%) last time the poll was taken on April 28.

A good majority said they have kept tabs on the Kirk meltdown, 27% asked said they have followed news reports very closely, and 35% have watched somewhat closely. Only 16% responded that they haven’t followed the drama at all.

The figures were similar when pollsters asked if the misstatements would affect their vote in November. 27% said it was very important, 36% somewhat important and 11% said not at all important.

Despite the fracas, Giannoulias is still viewed by likely voters as more unfavorable than Kirk. Kirk registers a 15% Very Unfavorable view while Giannoulias owns a 23% very unfavorable view.

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