Rasmussen:

Likely Republican nominee Pat Toomey trails both of the Democrats who are vying for their party’s nomination – Senator Arlen Specter and Rep. Joe Sestak – in potential match-ups for next year’s U.S. Senate race in Pennsylvania.

A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Pennsylvania voters shows Specter leading Toomey by 11 points, 50% to 39%.

Sestak bests Toomey by a narrower 41% to 35%.

But incumbents who poll at 50% or less are generally viewed as vulnerable, and Specter, who recently switched parties to become a Democrat, may face a bruising Democratic primary. Also, Toomey could be helped or hurt by the state of the economy and the level of President Obama’s popularity 17 months from now.

A former congressman who unsuccessfully challenged Specter for the GOP nomination in 2004, Toomey fares much better in the favorability race.
Fifty percent (50%) of Pennsylvania voters have a favorable opinion of Toomey, including 15% whose view is very favorable. Thirty-five percent (35%) have a unfavorable view, with 16% very unfavorable. But 16% don’t know enough about Toomey to have an opinion of him.