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When people find out about candidate positions on key issues, Casey plummets from a twelve point lead to a dead heat, with a non-significant two point lead.
Santorum loses when matched with any of the democratic candidates. Both of the self identified progressive democratic candidates draw higher percentages than Casey, with Pennacchio having the largest percentage of votes against Santorum, at a not quite significant 4.4 points higher than Casey. Casey, at non-significant levels, actually gets MORE votes from Republicans once they find out more about him and Santorum.
Casey refused to respond, so we constructed his positions from media and speeches.
OpEdNews.com's conclusion on this race-- Santorum wants Casey as his opponent because he wins the demographic game. Casey loses massively in some categories, when voters find out about Casey, which Santorum will sure insure. For example, Casy's support among 18-24 year olds drops from 63% to 40%, with Protestants, it drops from 47.3% to 30%, with liberals, from 95.4% to 68%, with moderates, from 64% to 53%, but Casey actually gains support from conservates, going from 3.9% to 5%, a non-significant, but interesting finding.
The poll first asked panelists how they would vote, matching up all five candidates (three Democratic, two Republican) without any information provided to them, then presented them with information on the position the candidates take on a number of issues. All candidates were invited at the same time to participate and given three days to respond. They were told that if they did not respond, then the issue positions would be constructed based on website, media and other statements the candidates made. All candidates responded except Bob Casey, jr., who replied that he would not participate in the poll. OpEdNews.com made one last request by phone and email after the deadline, offering the Casey campaign an opportunity to participate and they stated they were not participating. That same evening, Casey was also a no-show at debate sponsored by the league of women voters in Harrisburg PA.
http://www.opednews.com/articles/genera_rob_kall_060127_opednews_com_2f_zogby_.htm