Poll

Mitch McConnell Isn’t Very Popular

With a margin of error of approximately 4 points, a new poll of Kentucky voters shows that only 17 percent are committed to reelecting Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Twice as many Kentucky voters say they will vote against U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell as say they will definitely vote for him in the 2014 election, according to the latest Courier-Journal Bluegrass Poll.

The poll comes as groups on both McConnell’s right and left are trying to recruit candidates to challenge him in the primary and general election in two years, when McConnell, the most powerful Republican in the U.S. Senate, seeks his sixth term in Washington.

According to the poll of 609 registered voters, 34 percent said they plan to vote against McConnell while just 17 percent say they will vote to give him another six years. The poll found that 44 percent said they will have to wait and see who is running against him and 6 percent said they are not sure.

McConnell is more vulnerable to a challenger right now that he's ever been, but the question remains -- can his opponents capitalize on it?

I say opponents rather than Democrats because it's not just Democrats who want to replace him.

It's hard to imagine, but there really are people out there who feel that McConnell isn't sufficiently conservative and they want to replace him with someone who's more ideologically aligned with the likes of Rand Paul.