Sunday Polls: Blue Iowa and Red Georgia

• Iowa ready to go back to Democrats

SurveyUSA continues to roll out its state numbers. After releasing its Missouri poll yesterday, here are numbers from Iowa. Four years after going for Bush, Iowa seems ready to come back to Democrats. In interpreting these numbers, it is important to remember that all these candidates have been extensively running ads in Iowa to prepare for the early January caucuses. This probably explains why Romney does better in Iowa than in any other state polled by SUSA.

• All 9 matchups are won by Democrats. The smallest margin of victory is 6%.
  
• Clinton beats Giuliani by 8% (50-42). She actually beats him more comfortably than Thompson (50-44) and Romney (50-43).
• Obama does slightly better than Clinton. He also beats Giuliani 50-42, but he has 10 point leads against Thompson and Romney (51-41).
• Edwards, as now seems to be the norm, does better than both his Democratic rivals. He tops Giuliani by 14% (53-39), Romney by 16 (54-38) and Thompson by 17 (54-37).

I have been using SUSA's numbers to comment on the electability of Democrats, but this poll says a lot about Republicans as well. Voters in Iowa know Romney better than other states SUSA polled, and Romney does better here than Giuliani. Does that mean that Romney does have the potential of more potential to beat Democrats than Giuliani does? And would Democrats be celebrating too fast if Romney beat Giuliani in the Republican race?

The same argument applies for Democrats: Clinton has a comfortable lead here against all Republicans. The same cannot be said in other states polled by SUSA like New Hampshire, Ohio, or Missouri. Does that mean that voters are more comfortable voting for her as they get to know her more? Is she managing to effectivly smooth over her polarizing image?

• Georgia remains firmly Republican

Rasmussen has come out with a general election poll out of Georgia. Bush won the state by 17% (58-41%) in 2004, and Clinton actually fares a bit better: She loses against all three major GOP contenders, but she more than holds her own. She trails by 10% against Giuliani (49% to 39%), by 12% against Thompson (51% to 39%) and only by 3% against Romney (44% to 41%). Rasmussen has clearly shown a trend of Clinton being competitive in the South: She leads everyone by wide margins in Arkansas (one of her home-states) and has a slight edge in Virginia.

Rasmussen also polled the Senate race, pitting Senator Chambliss against potential Democratic challengers, and it does not look good for Democratic chances there. Not that Chambliss is supposed to be vulnerable. While Democrats really wish they could take him out after the despicable way in which Chambliss beat incumbent Cleland in 2002, few believe they really have any chance of doing so.