Internal Poll: Mike Rounds Up By 24 In South Dakota

Republican Senate candidate and former South Dakota Governor Mike Rounds doesn’t appear worried about losing to his opponents on South Dakota.

The Rounds campaign, together with the National Republican Senatorial Committee, released an internal poll to Politico of the state showing him up by 24 points even though Democrats began spending money to target him in the race.

Rounds now leads with 48 percent of the vote, according to the internal poll conducted by Public Opinion Strategies – up eleven points from his polling numbers earlier this month.

Campaigns often release internal polling to counteract media narratives. When a candidate is narrowly losing, the campaign is willing to release information showing them within a margin of error. When the candidate is winning, they release information to show that they are a dominating force.

It’s important to retain some skepticism, but this poll signals that the surprise Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee investment in South Dakota may have already flamed out.

The campaign could also be working to distract from an important story surfacing yesterday about the Rounds administration.

Yesterday, the FBI revealed that the investigation was “active” which could spell trouble for his campaign. https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2014/10/22/fbi-investigating-south-dakota-eb-5-program-a-potential-blow-to-senate-gop/

Democrats have seized on the narrative, repeatedly running negative ads to call Rounds’ leadership into question.