Washington Senate Election 2010: Incumbent Democrat Patty Murray Trails Republicans Dino Rossi & Clint Didier

DEMOCRATS IN TROUBLE IN WASHINGTON STATE SENATE RACE … TOSS UP.

The following is surprising polling data out of Washington state and another headache for Democrats. According to the most recent Rasmussen poll, incumbent Democrat US Senator Patty Murray is is trailing both GOP challengers. Murray trails both Republican Dino Rossi and Clint Didier by a 48% to 45% margin.

Washington’s Senate race looks increasingly like a referendum on incumbent Democrat Patty Murray with two Republican candidates edging past her this month.

A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Voters in Washington State finds Republican hopefuls Dino Rossi and Clint Didier both earning 48% support in match-ups with Murray. She, in turn, picks up 45% of the vote against the two GOP challengers. Less than 10% of voters in both cases prefer some other candidate in the race or are undecided.

VP Joe Biden might have been premature in his prediction that the Democrats would control the House and Senate following the 2010 midterm elections. Of course he was really doing damage control for the remarks the previous Sunday from White House Press Secretary Gibbs comments that Democrats could lose the House. Republicans need a net pick up of 10 seats in the Senate which is a tall order; however, across the United States Democrats are in trouble in so many states. Who would have thought that the GOP would make it a toss up in states like Washington, Wisconsin and California.

It is never a good sign when an incumbent polls below 50% and what is most troubling is that Murray’s poll numbers are getting worse. Many Republicans thought Dino Rossi would give Murray a run for her seat then he decided to run; however, the shock has to come fromformer NFL football player Clint Didier who has surged into the lead against Murray as well.

Last month, Murray led Didier, a former professional football player, 48% to 40%. Prior to that survey, Didier’s support had ranged from 30% to 37% since January. In the same time period, Murray earned 47% to 51% in match-ups with Didier.

RCP average polling has Murray still ahead of her GOP challengers; however, polls are trending away from Murray. Republicans will pick their candidate for the Washington state US Senate seat during the August 17 primary. If republicans take Washington state in November, it is going to be an extremely long night for Democrats.