Poll: More Keystone delays may hurt Senate Dems

If President Obama delays a decision on the Keystone XL pipeline again, a number of voters in five states would be less likely to vote for Senate Democrats, according to a new poll.

The poll conducted for Consumer Energy Alliance, an energy consumer advocate and known backer of the controversial oil-sands pipeline, surveyed voters in Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Montana and New Hampshire on how much Keystone XL would sway their vote.

Over half of the voters in all five states said that politics played a role in the Obama administration’s latest delay in the Keystone XL permitting process.

And if the administration were to delay the decision again, the poll states, voters may be less likely to vote for a Democrat.

In Iowa 35 percent of voters would by less likely to vote for a Democrat, 38 percent are less likely in Kentucky, 31 percent in Michigan, 37 percent in Montana, and 34 percent in New Hampshire.

The poll also found that a majority of voters in all five states support building the pipeline, which would carry crude from Alberta oil sands to Gulf refineries.

Still, in individual polling of each Senate race in the five states, the numbers were close.

In Kentucky, if the election were held today, the poll states, roughly 46 percent would vote for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, and 45 percent would vote for his Democratic challenger Alison Lundergan Grimes.

In New Hampshire, another tight race for Democrats, 49 percent would vote for Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, and 43 percent for Republican challenger Scott Brown.