Ryan Shafik of Rockwood Strategies is one of the best political analysts in Pennsylvania.
He has analyzed Tom Corbett’s polling numbers and has determined that he is one of the “most unpopular Republican governors in America” and has much worse polling numbers than Rick Santorum did at this point in the year before his 2006 electoral defeat. Namely, Corbett is approved by 38 percent of Pennsylvanians and disapproved by 52 percent. As I have pointed, Republican Attorney General candidate, Dave Freed, underperformed every other Republican (and every other state wide candidate) in Pennsylvania.
The Republican base deserted Republican Freed/Corbett/Zimmerman and even voted Democrat to end 32 years of one party rule and Corbett’s perceived cover up of the Penn State cover up of the Sandusky serial child molestations. The Freed underperformance can be looked at as a proxy election for Tom Corbett 2014.
The polling numbers and the election results tell us that the Republicans need a new candidate.
Election Numbers Republican Attorney General Candidate Dave Freed significantly Freed/Corbett underperformed every other Republican state wide candidate. Republican voters rejected Freed/Corbett and voted for the Democrat.
My view is that Republicans were aware that Dave Freed was a close associate of Tom Corbett and his Establishment donors and that Dave Freed as Attorney General would protect Corbett from claims of slow rolling the Sandusky investigation in exchange for 100s of 1000s of campaign contributions as well as sabotaging the LeRoy Zimmerman/Hershey Trust investigation.
Republican Attorney General Candidate Dave Freed significantly Freed/Corbett underperformed every other Republican state wide candidate. Republican voters rejected Freed/Corbett and voted for the Democrat. Republican candidate for Treasurer did not run a highprofile campaign and, likely, represents the base line of the Republican statewide vote.
My view is that Republicans were aware that Dave Freed was a close associate of Tom Corbett and his establishment donors and that Dave Freed as Attorney General would protect Corbett from claims of slow rolling the Sandusky investigation in exchange for 100s of 1000s of campaign contributions as well as sabotaging the LeRoy Zimmerman/Hershey Trust investigation.
Democrat Kathleen Kane 3,125,557
Republican
Dave Freed’s 2,313,506.
Mitt Romney – 2,680,434;
Tom Smith – 2,509, 132;
John Maher Auditor – 2,548, 767:
Diana Irey Vaughan – 2,405, 654.