The furor surrounding Mark Kirk’s “misremembered” military award seems to have dragged him down in the polls slightly.
Kirk now leads opponent Alexi Giannoulias by 3-percentage points (42-39%) in a Rasmussen poll taken on June 7. The poll has a 4.5 point margin of error and sampled 500 people.
The GOP Senate candidate led Giannoulias by 8-percentage points (46-38%) last time the poll was taken on April 28.
A good majority said they have kept tabs on the Kirk meltdown, 27% asked said they have followed news reports very closely, and 35% have watched somewhat closely. Only 16% responded that they haven’t followed the drama at all.
The figures were similar when pollsters asked if the misstatements would affect their vote in November. 27% said it was very important, 36% somewhat important and 11% said not at all important.
Despite the fracas, Giannoulias is still viewed by likely voters as more unfavorable than Kirk. Kirk registers a 15% Very Unfavorable view while Giannoulias owns a 23% very unfavorable view.
