POLL: Majority would see Hart as illegitimate Congresswoman
Fresh polling in IA-02 this morning spells disaster for Rita Hart’s decision to bypass Iowa’s court system to allow Speaker Pelosi to hand her the election.
New numbers from AAN this morning say that if Rita Hart moves forward with her challenge, a majority of voters (57.7%) would see her as an illegitimate Congresswoman – a number that includes 25% of voters who voted for Hart.
Meanwhile, 7-in-10 voters believe this is a wrong decision and 56% of voters would be less likely to vote for Hart in 2022.
Does Pelosi still think this is a wise move?
Full polling memo is here and story from The Washington Examiner is below…
Iowa Voters Would View Hart As An Illegitimate Congresswoman If Installed By House: Poll
Washington Examiner
Kerry Picket
December 16, 2020
A Democratic House candidate in Iowa who lost by six votes out of more than 394,000 cast would be viewed as illegitimate by a majority of voters in the state if the Democratic-majority chamber seats her anyway, a poll shows.
Iowa’s state canvass board certified results for Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District after a districtwide count in all 24 counties in the race between Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Democrat Rita Hart. The board on Nov. 30 declared Miller-Meeks the winner of the election by only six votes in a southeast Iowa seat left open by the retirement of Democratic Rep. Dave Loebsack.
However, Hart announced two days later that rather than going to court to contest the results, she would file a petition with the House Committee on Administration, under the Federal Contested Elections Act. Under that 1969 law, and the Constitution more broadly, the House has the final say on who to seat or not to.
According to the survey, which was conducted for American Action Network by Republican polling firm Cygnal, a Republican polling firm, 7-in-10 voters in the district say a dispute about election results should be decided by Iowa’s courts, while just 9% want the dispute decided by lawmakers in Washington. The poll includes two-thirds of voters who say they voted for Hart in the November election.
Additionally, 58% of voters in the poll say that if the House voted to overturn the state-certified election results and install Hart in Congress, they would view her as an illegitimate member. This includes 58% of voters in Davenport and 69% of voters in Des Moines, who would view her as illegitimate. Twenty-five percent of Hart’s own voters would also question her legitimacy, the poll says. …
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