Hillarysworld

Popular Republican Governor John Hoeven crushes his two likeliest Democratic rivals thus far in North Dakota’s race for the U.S. Senate.

A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of likely voters in the state finds Hoeven with a 71% to 17% lead over the only announced Democrat in the race, state Senator Tracy Potter. Four percent (4%) prefer another candidate, and eight percent (8%) are undecided.

The numbers are only slightly less overwhelming if former state Attorney General Heidi Heitkamp is the Democratic candidate. Hoeven leads her 65% to 29%. Faced with that match-up, just one percent (1%) favor some other candidate, while five percent (5%) are undecided.

Eighty-five percent (85%) of voters in North Dakota now approve of Hoeven’s performance as governor, including 60% who strongly approve.

The popularity of Hoeven, who has been governor since 2000, was undoubtedly a factor in longtime Democratic Senator Byron Dorgan’s surprise announcement last month that he is not seeking reelection. Dorgan’s decision followed a Rasmussen Reports survey in mid-December showing him trailing Hoeven by 22 points – 58% to 36% - in a hypothetical Senate match-up.

A week after Dorgan’s announcement, Hoeven declared himself a candidate for the Senate.

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