McCaskill trails all opponents in new poll

Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) trails all three of her potential Republican opponents, according to a poll released this weekend, a sign that she faces an uphill battle for reelection in the GOP-leaning state.

McCaskill trails businessman John Brunner by 11 and former Missouri state Treasurer Sarah Steelman by 8 percentage points; Rep. Todd Akin leads her by 5 points.

McCaskill's approval rating is also underwater, with 44 percent of voters disapproving of the job she's done and only 37 percent approving.

The first-term senator narrowly won election in 2006, a banner year for Democrats, and the state has since trended more Republican. The poll, conducted for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and KMOV News 4 by Mason-Dixon Polling, indicates that whichever Republican wins the Aug. 7 primary will start as the general-election favorite.

The poll also showed President Obama in a weak position in a state he narrowly lost in 2008. Missouri voters disapprove of the job he's doing by a 17-point margin.

Brunner is the front-runner for nomination, though not by a wide margin. He leads Steelman by 33 to 27 percent, with Akin clocking in at 17 percent support, according to the poll. Brunner has spent millions of his own money on the race so far, though Steelman has a strong political base in southwestern Missouri.

The poll of 625 likely voters, with an oversample of 400 likely GOP voters for the primary ballot test, was conducted from July 23 through 25. The overall poll has a plus or minus 4 percent margin of error, and the primary poll's margin of error is plus or minus 5 percent.

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