EKB News

About half of Kentuckians think U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell should oppose a plan to send more American troops to Iraq, according to a new poll. Conducted by The Courier-Journal of Louisville, the Bluegrass Poll asked Kentuckians by phone whether they approve of the way McConnell is handling his job and whether they think McConnell should support or oppose President Bush's plan for a troop surge in Iraq. The poll found that 52 percent of Kentuckians questioned said that McConnell should oppose the troop surge, while 40 percent said he should support it. The rest were undecided. Meanwhile, 54 percent of respondents either strongly or somewhat approved of McConnell's job performance, while 23 percent strongly or somewhat disapproved. Another 23 percent had no opinion. McConnell told the newspaper he wasn't "terribly surprised" by the poll results about Iraq. McConnell, the minority leader in the Senate, has led the charge in the Senate to stop a vote on a resolution disapproving of Bush's plan to send 21,500 more troops to strengthen the American presence in Baghdad. McConnell faces voters in a re-election bid next year. So far, no Democrat has announced a run against McConnell. The vote on Iraq will likely be a consideration for voters, but it won't be the defining issue by November 2008 according to McConnell.