With nearly three-quarters of voters aligned in his camp, incumbent Gov. Dave Heineman has smooth sailing ahead in his bid for reelection. The latest Rasmussen Reports election survey shows Heineman leading Democrat David Hahn 72% to 18% (see crosstabs). Heineman has managed to add a point to his lead since last month’s poll while Hahn has stayed the same.

Eight-six percent (86%) of Republicans and half of Democrats surveyed (50%) say they support the governor. Hahn is only pulling 44% from his Democratic base and 7% crossover support.

Heineman’s favorability score is a nearly unheard of 82%, with almost one-third of those voters (32%) maintaining “very favorable” opinions of their governor. Only 16% view him unfavorably. Aside from Heineman’s popularity, Hahn’s biggest foe appears to be lack of name identification: 26% of voters surveyed aren’t sure what they think of him.

Earlier this week, Heineman picked up the endorsement of the Nebraska State Education Association and its 26,000 members

On the Senate side, despite spending nearly $10 million of his own money on his campaign, Republican challenger Pete Ricketts continues to trail incumbent U.S. Sen. Ben Nelson. The current survey shows Nelson in the lead 55% to 32%.

Ricketts has been quoted as saying that he will “spend enough to make sure voters know who he is.” Apparently they do, but they don’t necessarily like what they see. The majority of voters (54%) have an unfavorable opinion of the challenger with one-quarter (25%) reporting “very unfavorable” opinions.

Nebraska remains safely in the Democrats column for our Senate Balance of Power summary.

Crosstabs are available for Premium Members only.