April 2, 2009 3:12 PM

Dodd Polls 16 Points Behind Possible Republican Challenger For 2010

By
Michelle Levi
Topics
Campaign 2010
(AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)

In a direct match up with possible Republican 2010 candidate former Congressman Rob Simmons, Connecticut Senator Christopher Dodd has the support of only 34 percent of his constituents, a new Quinnipiac University poll shows. Simmons receives 50 percent of the vote, according to the poll.

Dodd, who has been in the Senate for 30 years, chairs the Senate Banking Committee. Many of those polled cite his involvement in the AIG bonus fiasco for their unhappiness with the incumbent, whose has just a 33 percent favorability rating. That's the lowest point his approval rating has ever gone; in March, it stood at 49 percent.

Dodd took much of the blame last month when his committee loosened restrictions on executive bonuses for bailed out companies in the stimulus bill. After initially denying having a hand in the legislation, which allowed AIG to reward current and former employees with $165 million dollars in retention bonuses, Dodd admitted that he diluted the restrictions at the request of the Treasury Department.

After a war of words, Treasury Secretary Geithner said that the Senate Banking Committee was urged to amend the restrictions by Treasury. But the acknowledgement may have come too late for Dodd, whose political stock fell as a result of stories noting his involvement in diluting the restrictions.

Twenty-seven percent of Connecticut voters polled say they blame Dodd for the AIG bonuses, while only twenty percent blame Geithner.

"A 33 percent job approval is unheard of for a 30-year incumbent, especially a Democrat in a blue state. Sen. Christopher Dodd's numbers among Democrats are especially devastating. Since the AIG controversy, his approval rating among Democrats is down to 51 percent, and only 58 percent of Democrats say they will vote for him against Simmons, who at this point is the best known and strongest Republican challenger," said Quinnipiac University Poll Director Douglas Schwartz.

"The generic numbers are even worse for Dodd than the specific matchup numbers, with only a third saying they probably or definitely will vote for Dodd compared to 59 percent saying they definitely or probably won't vote for him," Schwartz added.

The poll also shows Dodd trailing two other possible Republican challengers, State Sen. Sam Caligiuri (41 to 37 percent) and former ambassador Tom Foley (43 to 35 percent).

Add a Comment
by Nikos_Retsos April 2, 2009 5:19 PM EDT
U.S. senator Chris Dodd, D-Conn is the epitome of the
proverbial "from grace to disgrace" example. And the question is: How has he managed to conceal his highly
hypocritical character for more than a generation? And let's forget about the Connecticut voters and his re-election for a moment. The whole America is angry about him - including people in other states - and yes, me - who have always thought that if all congressmen were like him, we would have had the cleanest legislative and political body on earth.

Now we feel betrayed, and some of us may feel a little naive, or stupid. Especially I who have written so much about the scourge of political contributions as the "rent-a congressman" practice that has corrupted every aspect of political life. And this brings us to the late Wisconsin senator William Proxmire who once told Tom Brokaw in an interview: "People come to Washington with money and buy legislation," on quote.
And when it was revealed that AIG had gotten the bonuses "exception in the U.S. bailout" for its $ 103.100
contribution to Chris Dodd, I see the specter of William Proxmire telling America: "I told you so!"

As a retiree with a wilted pension gasping for breath on Wall Street, ans as a former resident of New Britain, Conn, I hope that the people of that great state will dispose of Mr. Dodd ungracefully in the next elections.

It has become apparent on the G20 Conference under way in Europe that our almost catastrophic economic collapse was the result of "deregulation" on Wall Street
that was achieved with hefty political contributions - as the aforementioned to Senator Dodd. That is why French
President Nicolas Sarkozy, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel are telling Obama to stop passing billions to Wall Street executives and pass strict regulation of the financial markets. But the voters also should be on the lookout and kick out of Washington anybody who was proven to be a collaborator of the rapacious Wall Street executives who cashed in their political contributions, and made themselves multimillionaires on the taxpayers money.
Nikos Retsos, retired professor
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