Cook: GOP Poll Shows Why Homestead Tax Credit Issue Damaging To Asa

Asa Hutchinson continues to receive bone-crushing body blows over the issue of his apparent cheating on his property taxes. On Thursday, the Democratic Governor’s Association released yet another television ad going after Hutchinson on this issue. You can view the ad at the bottom of this post.

This line of attack is doing real damage to Asa Hutchinson, which explains why the DGA continues to go after the GOP candidate on it. This latest ad is even more effective than the first one on this issue.

More importantly than the latest TV ads, polling shows the “property tax cheat” issue has taken a toll on Hutchinson’s numbers.

Back in May the Rasmussen Reports, a Republican-leaning polling firm, asked this question when they conducted an Arkansas poll: Which candidate for governor do you trust more on government ethics and corruption?

The May results for that question: Asa Hutchinson, 41% and Mike Ross, 33%.

Rasmussen asked that exact same question in their poll conducted in late August. Here are those results:

Asa Hutchinson – 37%
Mike Ross – 40%

That’s a dramatic eleven point swing to Mike Ross’s favor. This might help explain why Rasmussen now has Ross leading Hutchinson by two points.

A Democratic source close to the DGA made this point in a conversation with me today that I think hits the nail on the head: “The most effective hit on Asa is that he’s a slick, double-talking politician who can’t be trusted to fight for everyday Arkansans. The fact that Asa cheated on his taxes speaks clearly to that message.”

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkhaQU2McvA]