Fifty-two percent (52%) of Massachusetts voters agree with terminally ill Senator Edward M. Kennedy that the governor should name an interim senator to take his place until a special election can be held.

A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey in the state finds that 40% oppose giving Democratic Governor Deval Patrick the right to name an interim senator.

The partisan divide on the question is scarcely surprising. Seventy-two percent (72%) of Democrats favor the naming of an interim senator, while 64% of Republicans and 51% of voters not affiliated with either party are opposed.

Under a state law passed in 2004, a special election will be held within five months of the Senate seat going vacant. Sixty-six percent (66%) of Massachusetts voters believe a special election should be held when there is an open Senate seat. Just 27% say the governor should appoint the replacement.

Kennedy is fighting cancer and has proposed that state legislators give Patrick the power to make the interim appointment, so Massachusetts has two senators until a special election can be held. According to the Boston Globe, “his request clearly stems from his concern that President Obama’s efforts to win passage of a health care bill could hinge on being able to muster every Democratic vote in the Senate.”

In the questions asking about the process of selecting a replacement senator, Kennedy’s name was not mentioned in any way.

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In February, 37% of Massachusetts voters said Kennedy, who was diagnosed last year with a malignant brain tumor, should retire from the Senate, but 49% disagreed. Because of his illness, Kennedy has seldom been in Washington this year, but Democrats have been hoping he will be able to vote on the new health care reform plan since he has been a longtime champion of it.

Kennedy, 77, has been in the U.S. Senate since winning a special election in November 1962. He easily won reelection to his eighth full Senate term in 2006 with 69% of the vote. His current term expires at the end of 2012.

His fellow party members named Kennedy the third most popular Democrat on a list of 10, excluding Obama, just before their national convention last August.

On Monday, Rasmussen Reports will release new numbers on Patrick’s job performance and how he matches up with several of his likeliest opponents in the 2010 governor’s race. Our previous polling on the 2010 governor’s race showed that it could be competitive.

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