Election 2006

Election 2006: Washington

Rossi 47% Cantwell 44%

Election 2006 Senate Washington
Rossi (R)	47%
Cantwell (D)	44%
RasmussenReports.com

Favorables
Rossi	55%
Cantwell	54%
Gregoire	50%
RasmussenReports.com

Thursday December 15, 2005--Dino Rossi, the man who narrowly lost the race to be Washington's Governor last November, holds a slight lead over incumbent Senator Maria Cantwell in a hypothetical Election 2006 match-up.

Rossi attracts 47% of the vote to Cantwell's 44% in a survey of 500 Likely Voters conducted February 22, 2005. The margin of sampling error is +/- 4.5 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Rossi leads by 7 points among men and trails by 1 among women.

A Republican victory in the "Blue State" of Washington would go against the recent trend of Senate elections matching up with the state's Presidential preference.

In Election 2004, eight Senate seats switched from one party to the other. Six of the eight were Republican victories in Red States. One was a Democratic victory in the very Blue State of Illinois. The exception that proves the rule was Colorado where Democrat Ken Salazar narrowly defeated first time candidate Pete Coors.

Overall, Rossi is viewed favorably by 55% of Washington's voters. Cantwell is viewed favorably by 54%.

Governor Christine Gregoire is viewed favorably by 50%, although just 42% believe she legitimately won last November's election. Forty-four percent (44%) believe Rossi was the real winner while 15% don't know who won.

Rasmussen Reports is an electronic publishing firm specializing in the collection, publication, and distribution of public opinion polling information. Our publications provide real-time information on consumer confidence, investor confidence, employment data, the political situation, and other topics of value and interest. We provide daily updates on the economic confidence of Consumers and Investors. Our consumer data generally identifies trends two to six weeks ahead of traditional consumer confidence measures.

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The final, certified, results of Election 2004 show that President George W. Bush received 50.7% of the vote while Senator John Kerry earned 48.3%. Those figures are very close to the final Rasmussen Reports Daily Tracking Poll. We projected the President would win 50.2% to 48.5%.

The survey of 500 Likely Voters was conducted by Rasmussen Reports February 22, 2005. Margin of sampling error is +/- 4.5 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence.