 So we now have what I believe is the first poll out of Kentucky since their June primary between Charles Booker and Amy McGrath and It's looking pretty good For Mitch McConnell not for Amy McGrath Shocker, so as Alexander Bolton of the Hill reports sent him a Jordy leader Mitch McConnell is leading his Democratic opponent Amy McGrath by a commanding 17 points in a new poll that shows the GOP leader ahead 53% to 36% 84% of Republicans pulled by morning consults said they support McConnell while 79% of Democrats said they back McGrath 12% of Democrats said they also support McConnell. That's actually shocking The GOP leader has also more support among independents than McGrath with 45% backing McGrath and 33% favoring McGrath the survey of 700 likely voters in Kentucky Reported on by the Louisville career journal was conducted online from July 24th to August 2nd And at a margin of error of 3.5% The poll shows McConnell in a much stronger position than a Democratic one Published last month by Geron Hart Yang research group showing McConnell ahead of McGrath by only four points 45% to 41% a civics poll from June showed McConnell leading McGrath 53% to 33% McGrath has been a fundraising magnet bringing in 16.9 million in 2019 and 30.2 million so far this year in a bid to deny McConnell from winning a seventh Senate term McConnell by comparison has raised 37.7 million for his reelection since winning his last race against Democrat Allison Lundegren Grimes in 2014 now I think that those last couple of paragraphs there Really tell you why the Democratic Party establishment sided with Amy McGrath early on it's not just because They're ideologically aligned with her it's because she can raise a lot of money because I mean she has no principles She has no shame. She's not afraid to beg millionaires and billionaires for money She'll do that and as a result if she can fundraise a lot that also helps other Democrats because Democrats often times fundraise for each other So they want someone who's gonna bring in a lot of cash, which is why they supported her over anyone else now this race Theoretically speaking it shouldn't be that difficult like in theory Mitch McConnell should be beatable because up until I think 2020 He was the least popular senator in the United States of America It wasn't until 2020 when Susan Collins actually surpassed him as the least popular senator in America But I mean this should be a doable thing It's not gonna be easy because this is a deeply red state and Mitch McConnell is incredibly effective But it still shouldn't be seemingly impossible But here we are with a 17-point deficit to make up for Democrats now I'm rooting for Amy McGrath, but I Was really out of it that we have to get Charles Booker because Charles Booker there's no question about it He would have had a better shot now I'm not gonna sit here and smugly say oh well Charles Booker definitely would have one Because I don't know that none of us know that right and I think that even if he were the nominee it would be really difficult I think that the you know the deck would be stacked against him However, having said that looking at data from Kentucky You can't deny that if we were trying to be the strongest in the strongest possible position With the strongest possible candidate to take on Mitch McConnell. It wasn't Amy McGrath It was Charles Booker. Let's go back to that civics poll that was cited So this was conducted between June 13th and June 15th, and they surveyed 898 registered voters in Kentucky So in hypothetical matchups as they noted Amy McGrath was losing to Mitch McConnell by 20 points And look Charles Booker was also losing to Mitch McConnell Although he was losing by 14 points Amy McGrath was losing by 20 points So it's still be difficult for Charles Booker to beat McConnell But that's less of a deficit to make up We'd still be better off than the position that we're in now Now when it comes to favorability Mitch McConnell had a net favorability rating of minus five Whereas Amy McGrath had a net favorability rating of minus 35 So she was less favorable than Mitch McConnell now Charles Booker on the other hand had a net favorability rating of Plus four so he was viewed overall more favorably than Mitch McConnell and Amy McGrath Although there is a caveat here 38% of people were unsure with Charles Booker meaning that they probably didn't really know about him So if they knew more about him then perhaps that number could have changed But what we do know is that of the people that knew Charles Booker according to that poll they liked him He had a positive favorability rating He was the only person out of those three politicians who was in the positive and not in the negative and On top of that there was a lot of grassroots support for Charles Booker That just isn't there with Amy McGrath like he activated a base of Democratic Party voters that weren't previously activated He had a different strategy a strategy different than the person from 2014 Allison Lenderman Grimes who lost to Mitch McConnell So if running as a centrist Republican light candidate didn't work in 2014 Why is Amy McGrath thinking that it's going to work in 2020 like it doesn't make sense now Apparently Amy McGrath according to early polls out of Kentucky pulled better against against Mitch McConnell and even beat him by a point When she really emphasized term limits in the Senate So if she pushes for term limits then that can be her saving grace because in Kentucky That's something that really resonates with them. So my advice to her is to actually Shift to the left replicate Charles Booker strategy because whatever he was doing was working. He was more favorable and Scream the loudest you possibly can About term limits you have to throw out all the stops because even if You simply convince enough voters that you're better than Mitch McConnell, which Amy McGrath is better than Mitch McConnell You still have to have a really big win like you can't just Eek buy because there's going to be voter suppression This is a deep red state and Mitch McConnell has a lot of institutional power and support to where people in Kentucky Can stack the deck in his favor So you can't just win you have to win comfortably and I just don't think that Amy McGrath is up to the tasks now look I Mean this earnestly I wish her luck. I hope she beats Mitch McConnell again. He's got to be defeated He's one of the most destructive politicians ever So he's got to go but I can't help but feel frustrated that you know, we had someone who was more I Don't know someone who was better positioned to beat Mitch McConnell and Democrats just fucking They threw all of that away this opportunity that was unique that presented itself They said no, we're gonna go with the Uninspiring Democrat who's a centrist because she could raise money that tells us that they don't necessarily care about winning They care about fundraising more than anything. It's just it's so frustrating because They should know like any Democrat and power Chuck Schumer especially should know the immense amount of power and influence that Mitch McConnell has and if he wants to be the Senate majority leader Which would be awful as well But if he wants to oust Mitch McConnell and have Democrats take back the Senate Then I mean you should want the stronger candidate to win in theory, but like Democrats convinced themselves That it's the you know more milk toast option the Republican light candidate who is going to be best suited to take on the Republican It's just look it's not gonna work I'd be surprised if she won but I would also be happy if she won But it's it's just we have a bigger ditch to dig ourselves out from since we went with Amy McGrath So we'll see what happens, but certainly if she doesn't turn things around She's not gonna be able to make up that deficit and Mitch McConnell will be reelected for another six years Which would be a disaster especially if he remains the Senate majority leader So I hope they take this race seriously, but something tells me Democrats are gonna fuck this up