Kentucky: Pro-Life Rand Paul Pulling Ahead of Pro-Abortion Jack Conway

State   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Oct 26, 2010   |   1:55PM   |   Frankfort, KY

Two new polls show pro-life Senate candidate Rand Paul pulling ahead of pro-abortion candidate Jack Conway in what is one of the top 10 races in the nation that could determine who controls the chamber.
An ad questioning Paul’s Christian faith — the “Aqua Buddha” ad that has drawn so much attention in the state — appears to have backfired.

A new Fox News survey shows likely voters giving Paul a 50-43 percentage point lead and it also shows voters personally displeased with Conway.

While Paul was viewed favorably by 48 percent of voters and unfavorably by 41 percent, only 38 percent had a positive impression of Conway while 51 percent held an unfavorable view. Just 30 percent of Kentucky voters say Conway shares their values while 43 percent say the same for Paul.

Conway is also hurt by the unpopular view most Kentuckians take of pro-abortion President Barack Obama:  just 35 percent of respondents approved of the job Obama is doing and 66 percent want to repeal pro-abortion ObamaCare.

Meanwhile, a new PPP firm survey finds independents have moved toward Rand Paul in droves over the last month and a half and as a result he’s built his lead in the Kentucky Senate race up to 13 points at 53-40.

In a September PPP poll, Paul led by 7 overall while also holding a 7 point lead with independents. Now that advantage with independents is a whopping 39 points at 66-27.

“There’s been virtually no movement among Democrats or Republicans over that period of time so most of the movement in the race can be attributed to that shift,” the polling firm notes.

“There’s been no change in Rand Paul’s favorability numbers in the wake of the controversial ‘Aqua Buddha’ ad,” PPP continues. “Jack Conway has seen his numbers plunge though. Where before voters split evenly in their assessments of him, giving him a favorability of 36/36, they now view him mostly in a negative light at -13 (39/52).”

Paul’s campaign manager David Adams told The Kentucky Enquirer previously that Paul is “100% pro-life.” [related]

Paul answered with a pro-life response to each of the questions on the Kentucky Right to Life survey except one, which he did not answer originally but a later version of the survey he faxed over to the pro-life group had them all answered pro-life.