With two weeks until Election Day, beleaguered former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford trails his Democratic congressional opponent Elizabeth Colbert Busch by nine points, according to a poll released Monday.
Public Policy Polling’s poll of 796 likely South Carolina voters found Colbert Busch leading Sanford 50 percent to 41 percent, with just 5 percent of voters undecided and 3 percent of voters going for Green Party candidate Eugene Platt.
The poll was conducted Friday through Sunday, April 19 to 21, following a no good, very bad week for the Sanford campaign. On Tuesday, The Associated Press reported that Sanford’s ex-wife, Jenny Sanford, had accused him of trespassing at her house. Sanford said he had gone over to watch a football game with their son.
Following the report, the National Republican Congressional Committee announced Wednesday that it would not be supporting Sanford’s campaign. On Thursday, the Sanford campaign canceled a D.C. fundraiser that all the Republicans in the South Carolina congressional delegation were slated to attend.
Though Barack Obama’s approval rating in the district is just 41 percent, with 51 percent disapproving, Colbert Busch is more well-liked than the former governor. Fifty-six percent of voters say they have a favorable opinion, compared to just 31 percent with an unfavorable opinion.
Sanford, on the other hand, is viewed favorably by 38 percent of voters, while 56 percent say they have an unfavorable view of him.
The trespassing charges raised doubts about Sanford’s fitness for office for 51 percent of voters — 35 percent said they raised serious doubts, and 16 percent said they raised somewhat serious doubts. Forty-four percent said the charges raised no doubts at all.
Colbert Busch, according to the poll, is successfully drawing Republican voters away from Sanford. Twenty percent of voters who voted for Mitt Romney in 2012 said they planned to support Colbert Busch. Just 10 percent of people who voted for President Barack Obama in 2012 said they would vote for Sanford.
Fifty-one percent of independent voters said they planned to support Colbert Busch, compared to 35 percent for Sanford. Nineteen percent of Republicans said they planned to vote for the Democratic candidate.
The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.
Sanford and Colbert Busch are vying for seat vacated by former Rep. Tim Scott, who was appointed to the Senate when former Sen. Jim DeMint resigned to become president of the conservative Heritage Foundation.
The special election is scheduled for May 7.
