I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
A major national poll revealed on Monday that right now, Republicans have a major national advantage over Democrats. According to the Gallup “generic ballot” poll asks respondents if they would rather vote for an unnamed Democrat or Republican for Congress. The latest results, released Monday, showed that Republicans lead by 51 to 41 percent. That 10-point lead is the largest since Gallup has been asking the question.
Whether that sounds to you like good news or bad news, it’s best not to take the numbers for granted, says Fox News commentator (and Democrat) Susan Estrich.
As she wrote in a commentary for pollster Rassmussen Reports, “…Generic candidates don’t run. The generic Republican is not facing the generic Democrat in any district in America. Real candidates sometimes do much better — or much worse — than their generic equivalents, depending on all kinds of factors that don’t go into the generic test.”
As we can see from the latest Albuquerque Journal poll results, anything can happen in New Mexico’s state and congressional elections. While Republican Susana Martinez is polling around five points ahead of Democrat Diane Denish, Democratic Congressman Martin Heinrich leads his GOP challenger John Barela. And Democrat Harry Teague is holding on to a slim edge over his opponent, Republican Steve Pearce.
But, as Estrich notes, incumbents have a huge advantage. And most high-level incumbents in New Mexico right now are Democrats. As Estrich says:
Virtually everyone in Congress gets re-elected every two years, even as people complain about how little they think of Congress. People hate Congress overwhelmingly, but most of them make an exception for the particular person who represents them — who helped find a lost Social Security check, spoke at their kid’s graduation or welcomed them to their office. Incumbents do much better than generics any day.
