The 2010 Senate Crop

I think you can make a pretty strong argument that 2010 presents one of the weakest sets of Senate candidates across the country that we've seen in a very long time. Looking at favorability numbers in 15 key races we've polled in the last couple months:



-Only one candidate has a net favorability number of better than +5. That's Mike Castle in Delaware at +19 (51/32).



-20 of the 31 major candidates in those 15 races have negative favorability numbers.



-Obscurity may be a plus. 4 of the 9 candidates with positive numbers are still unknown to 40% or more of the voters in their states. For the most part this year the better known a candidate has become the less well liked they've been.



-In 6 of those 15 races both candidates are viewed negatively by most of the voters who have an opinion about them (Illinois, Colorado, Nevada, New Hampshire, Missouri, California)



-The races where voters like their candidates the least are Colorado (average fav of -18), Nevada (-12.5), Illinois (-12), and California (-7). The ones where they like their candidates the most (or perhaps dislike the least is a more appropriate way of describing it) are Delaware (+9.5) and Wisconsin (+1).



Here's the full data. What other interesting observations are there?

Candidate (State-Party)	Favorability (Spread) (No Opinion)
Mike Castle (DE-R)	51/32 (+19) (17)
Elaine Marshall (NC-D)	23/19 (+4) (58)
Pat Toomey (PA-R)	36/33 (+3) (31)
Charlie Crist (FL-I)	44/41 (+3) (15)
David Vitter (LA-R)	45/43 (+2) (12)
Ron Johnson (WI-R)	20/18 (+2) (62)
Jack Conway (KY-D)	31/29 (+2) (40)
Patty Murray (WA-D)	46/45 (+1) (9)
Lee Fisher (OH-D)	28/27 (+1) (45)
Russ Feingold (WI-D)	42/42 (E) (16)
Chris Coons (DE-D)	31/31 (E) (38)
Roy Blunt (MO-R)	41/42 (-1) (17)
Barbara Boxer (CA-D)	44/46 (-2) (10)
Kelly Ayotte (NH-R)	36/39 (-3) (25)
Rob Portman (OH-R)	22/25 (-3) (53)
Charlie Melancon (LA-D)	29/34 (-5) (37)
Paul Hodes (NH-D)	35/40 (-5) (25)
Dino Rossi (WA-R)	43/48 (-5) (9)
Rand Paul (KY-R)	34/42 (-8) (24)
Mark Kirk (IL-R)	26/34 (-8) (40)
Kendrick Meek (FL-D)	18/27 (-9) (55)
Robin Carnahan (MO-D)	41/50 (-9) (9)
Harry Reid (NV-D)	44/53 (-9) (3)
Joe Sestak (PA-D)	28/38 (-10) (34)
Carly Fiorina (CA-R)	28/40 (-12) (32)
Richard Burr (NC-R)	32/44 (-12) (24)
Marco Rubio (FL-R)	31/46 (-15) (23)
Sharron Angle (NV-R)	36/52 (-16) (12)
Alexi Giannoulias (IL-D)	26/42 (-16) (32)
Michael Bennet (CO-D)	32/48 (-16) (20)
Ken Buck (CO-R)	26/46 (-20) (28)