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Wednesday, May 22, 2019
Graphics by Gus Wezerek
Down the stretch they come! No, it’s not the Kentucky Derby — today, Kentuckians will vote for governor in their party primaries. Incumbent Gov. Matt Bevin will likely win renomination in the Republican contest despite being incredibly unpopular. But Democrats have a competitive three-way race between state House Minority Leader Rocky Adkins, state Attorney General Andy Beshear and former state auditor Adam Edelen. Beshear appears to be in the lead, but it’s unclear how big that lead really is and whether a Democrat can even still win a general election in a state that is now so deeply red.
Beto O’Rourke is trying to reboot his campaign. After being in the race for two months, the former Texas representative is getting much less media attention than he did when he first announced his candidacy. The week he entered the race, O’Rourke was mentioned more than any other candidate — his name came up in 870 clips across the three cable news networks we monitor (MSNBC, CNN and Fox News), according to data from the TV News Archive that we accessed via the GDELT’s Project Television API. Last week, he ranked seventh.
In recent months, President Trump’s approval and disapproval ratings have been unimpressive, stubbornly stuck around 42 percent and 53 percent, respectively, according to FiveThirtyEight’s presidential approval tracker. That could be a bad sign for his reelection prospects. But luckily for Trump, presidential elections in the United States are made up of 50 state-level elections, and his approval rating varies by state.
Welcome to Pollapalooza, our weekly polling roundup.
