Grassley continues to top Conlin in new poll

A poll released May 3 shows Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley enjoying a 53 percent to 40 percent lead over potential Democratic challenger Roxanne Conlin.

In recent months, Grassley's support has been as high as 59 percent against Conlin, a Des Moines attorney and the best-known of his three Democratic opponents.

Grassley's lead in the Rasmussen Reports poll over Bob Krause of Fairfield is 57 percent to 31 percent, Rasmussen said. He leads Clarence attorney Tom Fiegen 57 percent to 30 percent.

In the telephone survey conducted April 29, only 4 percent of likely voters are not sure of their choice in a Grassley-Conlin match-up and 3 percent prefer another candidate.

Grassley enjoys strong support from those who favor repeal of the new federal health care plan. Grassley was a member of a bipartisan group that tried to write a health care plan. In the end, he voted against the bill.

In match-ups against each of the three Democrats, Grassley earns more than 80 percent of the votes of those who strongly favor repeal.

On the other hand, Conlin gets 80 percent support from those who strongly opposed to repeal, while Krause and Fiegen earn 56 percent of that vote.

Grassley leads the fields in nearly every category including a large margin among both male and female voters except when his opponent is Conlin. He now leads Conlin by only 5 points among women.

Grassley attracts roughly double or triple the support of his opponents among voters not affiliated with either major party.

Grassley is viewed very favorably by 27 percent, very unfavorably by 16 percent. Conlin is viewed very favorably by 16 percent, very unfavorably by 26 percent. Krause is viewed very favorably by 2 percent and very unfavorably by 9percent. For Fiegen, very favorables are 3 percent, very unfavorables 13 percent,

At this point in a campaign, Rasmussen Reports considers the number of people with a strong opinion more significant than the total favorable/unfavorable numbers.

Rasmussen surveyed 500 likely voters in Iowa. The margin of sampling error is +/- 4.5 percentage points with a 95 percent level of confidence.