Grassley, Ernst get good marks from Iowa voters

CEDAR RAPIDS - Roughly 15 months ahead of his bid for a seventh term, Sen. Chuck Grassley is getting a lot of love from Iowans.

Grassley, first elected in 1980, gets a healthy 68 to 21 percent approval rating from Iowa voters in a Quinnipiac University Poll released Monday morning. By a 54 to 33 percent margin, they say he deserves re-election in 2016. That's a smaller margin than his previous re-elections, when Grassley has captured more than 60 percent of the vote.

Freshman Sen. Joni Ernst is 'off to a good start,” according to Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll. Elected in November by a 52 to 43 percent margin, Ernst has a 52 to 32 percent approval rating from Iowans today.

'Iowans seem to like their political leaders,” Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll, said.

The exception might be Gov. Terry Branstad, who posted approval numbers lower than in any previous Quinnipiac poll.

Iowa voters approve 48 to 43 percent of the job Branstad is doing, the lowest approval rating for the longtime governor since Quinnipiac University began surveys there in 2013.

'Branstad's approval rating is down after winning re-election last November with 59 percent of the vote,” Brown said.

Republicans approve of Branstad's performance 75 to 15 percent, while Democrats disapprove 70 to 23 percent. Independent voters are divided, as 47 percent approve and 44 percent disapprove.

The poll numbers indicate Grassley looks like a strong re-election bet and U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst is off to a good start, Brown said. 'Even four in 10 Democrats think Grassley deserves another term.”

So far, he has attracted three potential challengers - former legislators Bob Krause of Fairfield, Tom Fiegen of Clarence and current state Sen. Rob Hogg of Cedar Rapids.

Larry Sabato's Crystal Ball rates the Iowa U.S. Senate seat as 'safe Republican.”

From July 9-20, Quinnipiac University surveyed 1,236 Iowa voters with a margin of error of +/- 2.8 percentage points. Live interviewers call landlines and cellphones.

For more, visit www.quinnipiac.edu/polling.

l Comments: (319) 398-8375; james.lynch@thegazette.com