Heller leads primary by 22 points in internal poll

Republican Sen. Dean Heller (Nev.) pushed back Monday against concerns that he’s vulnerable on his right flank, releasing an internal poll that shows him far ahead of his primary challenger.  

Heller’s 22-point lead shows that primary opponent Danny Tarkanian may have a long way to go if he wants to knock off the incumbent. 

But the poll also shows Heller winning less than 60 percent of Republican primary voters against Tarkanian, a perennial candidate who many believe would struggle in a general election. Those are surprisingly low numbers for an incumbent senator, a sign that the GOP base is hardly unified around Heller.  

{mosads}Heller’s internal polling finds him with 55 percent of the vote compared to Tarkanian’s 33 percent, with 12 percent of voters undecided. 

The campaign decided to release the polling memo to undercut Tarkanian’s claims that he’s leading the primary race — he and his campaign have been touting a JMC Analytics poll published in Breitbart that showed him ahead by 8 points. 

“Danny Tarkanian is on track to lose his sixth race for political office. Voters have rejected him time and again —  and this race will be no different,” Heller spokesman Tommy Ferraro said in a statement released with the campaign’s polling. 

“Danny has spent the weekend promoting ‘polls’ that have been manufactured specifically to promote his candidacy. If Danny truly believes the polls he’s touting then I have an equestrian destination resort I’d like to sell him.”

Heller sits in a tenuous position as one of the most vulnerable incumbents up for reelection in 2018, and the most vulnerable Republican.

Tarkanian is positioning himself as an ally of President Trump’s and blasting him for his wavering over repealing ObamaCare in the hopes of taking Heller down from the right. Last week, 2012 Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin backed Tarkanian. 

As an incumbent, Heller has the backing of powerful groups like the National Republican Senatorial Committee and the Senate Leadership Fund super PAC, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) allied group. That will give him serious resources in both the primary and the general. 

If Heller survives his primary, he’ll then face a tough battle against the Democratic nominee in a state Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton won by about 2 points in 2016. Most Democrats are rallying behind Rep. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) as their choice for the party’s nomination.

The polling by The Tarrance Group interviewed 300 likely Republican primary voters over the phone between Aug. 14 through Aug. 16. The poll’s margin of error is 5.8 percent.