Page 42 - ATR 5 2013

the last WoRd

Who’s Winning the political

perception Game?

By Mitchell lowe clearly indicates that Senator Pryor – The work has begun. In his race
Guest Writer who will be atop the Democratic party’s for Governor, former Democratic
2014 ballot and is the only Democratic Congressman Mike Ross has already
While it’s difficult to identify any member of the state’s Congressional spent hundreds of thousands of dollars
political winners in the aftermath of delegation – is positioned to bear the portraying himself as a conservative.
last month’s partial federal government brunt of the blame when Arkansans go However, one particular vote he cast in
shutdown, it’s not difficult to deduce to the polls next November. July 2009 as a Member of the House
that U.S. Senator Mark Pryor likely In the Arkansas Poll, a mere 29 Energy and Commerce committee will
benefits the most from the fact that percent of likely voters approve of get plenty of attention. That vote was in
it occurred more than a year prior to President Obama’s job performance. favor of an early version of ObamaCare
Election Day 2014. The disastrous unveiling of ObamaCare that allowed the federal health care
Several recently released surveys has undoubtedly driven those numbers legislation to advance and eventually
show that Arkansans place most of the down further. become law.
blame for the shutdown on President Senator Pryor’s numbers aren’t Unfortunately for Ross, this vote
Barack Obama and the Democrats. One much better with only 34 percent of ties him to an unpopular president
such poll, the 15th annual Arkansas likely voters approving of his perfor- and an unpopular law. Time will tell if
Poll, conducted by the University of mance. For perspective, Senator Pryor he’s able to overcome this obstacle and
Arkansas from October 10-17, reveals is polling well below former Senator defeat the likely Republican nominee,
that 39 percent of likely voters blamed Blanche Lincoln’s Arkansas Poll num- former Congressman Asa Hutchinson.
the President and his party for the shut- bers a year before she was voted out of Incidentally, January 2013 marked
down, while 27 percent placed blame office in 2010. In 2009, 43 percent of the first time Republicans controlled
with Republicans in Congress. those polled approved of her job per- the state legislature since 1874. If
That’s bad news for Senator Pryor formance. Despite a significant money Hutchinson is successful next year,
and his fellow Democrats. The good advantage, she received 37 percent of Republicans could make history again;
news for them is that the shutdown, the vote a year later in a crushing loss the party has not held both the gover-
while dramatic and newsworthy at the to then-Congressman John Boozman. norship and the legislature since that
time, simply occurred too early to have Democrats in Arkansas know they same year.
an impact on next year’s elections. must separate themselves from national
But the polling data accumulated in Democrats and convince the state’s Mitchell Lowe is a political consultant
the days after the shutdown is impor- conservative electorate that they’re not and an associate with Capitol Advisors
group in Little Rock, Arkansas. He can be
tant. It not only provides indisputable in lockstep with liberals in Washington, reached at mitchelllowe@gmail.com
evidence that President Obama remains DC. Democrats had limited success
politically toxic in Arkansas, it also doing this in 2010 and 2012.

Opinions expressed on this page may not reflect official policies or opinions of the Arkansas Trucking Association
or the American Trucking Associations.

42 arKansas trucKing report | issue 5 2013