Not The News Democrats Were Hoping For

With only 8 days remaining before the election, a Mason-Dixon poll sponsored by the Argus Leader of 800 likely South Dakota voters shows Governor Mike Rounds with a 22 point lead over challenger Jack Billion.

The incumbent Republican would win 57-35 with 8 percent undecided if the results of the Nov. 7 election mirror the outcome of a recent Mason-Dixon Polling and Research survey of 800 likely South Dakota voters.

The Argus Leader sponsored the poll.

The statewide results of the telephone survey, done Tuesday through Thursday, match almost exactly a late-October poll by the same firm in 2002 when Rounds ran against Democrat Jim Abbott. That poll showed Rounds up 55-36. Rounds won that election by about 15 points.

Rounds has big leads in just about every demographic other than with registered Democrats.

The Democrats finally had a viable candidate to challenge the Republican stranglehold in Pierre but for whatever reason his campaign never really got off the ground and now Billion sits 22 points behind with only 8 days remaining. I guess we can stick a fork in it...