Markey Hurt by Obama Scandals

Something is going on in the Massachusetts senate race. In an earlier post I cited a poll that showed the race to be a dead heat with Ed Markey leading Gabriel Gomez by a single point, 45% to 44%. I went on to express skepticism of that poll since I was not familiar with the pollster but did opine that the Real Clear Politics average of polls of 10.4% for Markey overstated his strength.
The latest Suffolk poll shows the race to be tightening, which of course is to be expected, but I doubt if anyone expected it would tighten so much so quickly. The May 8 Suffolk poll had Markey up 17- 52% to 35%. The June 9 poll finds Markey still leading but by a only a 7 point margin, 48% to 41%. Notice Markey has dropped below the magical 50 percent mark. Gomez remains a long shot 2 week before the election but a low voter turnout in a special election could make him competitive.
Suffolk blames Markey's faltering support on recent Obama scandals.

On the issue of the IRS targeting of conservative groups applying for tax exempt status, 88 percent of likely voters were aware of the story and 50 percent said that Obama was being truthful when he said he learned about the issue through the news media. Thirty-nine percent said he was not being truthful.
Eighty-eight percent were aware of the Benghazi story and 43 percent said that Obama deliberately misled the public about the attack on the embassy, while 50 percent said he did not.
Although 80 percent were aware of the Associated Press phone records story, a strong majority – 61 percent – said that there should be stricter limits on the federal government’s power to investigate journalists. Twenty-five percent disagreed

A win for Gomez or just a close miss should send shivers through Democrats who won't be running in deep blue districts.