NRSC's Anti-Laffey Ad Campaign Backfires

NRSC ANTI-LAFFEY AD CAMPAIGN BACKFIRES Following NRSC Ads, GOP Primary Voters More Likely To Support Chafee Challenger Washington, D.C. -- Results from a poll by the Club for Growth, the nation's leading free-market advocacy organization with over 33,000 members, show that a Rhode Island TV ad campaign by the National Republican Senatorial Committee designed to help liberal incumbent Senator Lincoln Chafee appears to be angering core Republican voters and driving up support for his Republican primary challenger, Cranston, Rhode Island, Mayor Stephen Laffey. The poll of 300 Republican primary voters was conducted by National Research Inc. on Nov. 14-15. The poll asked whether respondents had seen television ads about Stephen Laffey. Among those who had, three out of four respondents said the ads either made them more likely to support Laffey or had no effect. Among those who reported that the ads affected their views, nearly three out of five of those (or 58%) respondents reported they were more likely to support Laffey. "From bridges to nowhere to campaign ads that have the opposite of their intended effect, some Republicans in Washington are proving that they are simply no good at spending other people's money effectively," said Pat Toomey, President of the Club for Growth. "If the NRSC really wants to win the support of GOP members in Rhode Island, they should try encouraging Sen. Lincoln Chafee to vote for what the Republican party is supposed to stand for -- a pro-growth agenda of limited government, lower taxes and less federal spending." The poll produced the following results: THE NATIONAL REPUBLICAN SENATORIAL COMMITTEE IS SPENDING MONEY ON ATTACK ADS AGAINST STEPHEN LAFFEY, A FELLOW REPUBLICAN HERE IN RHODE ISLAND. DO YOU THINK THEY SHOULD BE SPENDING MONEY ON THIS NEGATIVE CAMPAIGN, OR SHOULD THEY BE SPENDING MONEY AGAINST DEMOCRATS INSTEAD?

SHOULD BE	9.3%
SPEND AGAINST DEMOCRATS	71.7%
DON'T KNOW/REFUSED	19%

HAVE YOU SEEN ANY TELEVISION ADVERTISING OVER THE PAST SEVERAL WEEKS ABOUT STEPHEN LAFFEY?

YES	61%
NO	35.3%
DON'T KNOW/REFUSED	3.7%

AND DID THE ADVERTISING MAKE YOU MORE LIKELY OR LESS LIKELY TO VOTE FOR STEPHEN LAFFEY IN THE REPUBLICAN PRIMARY FOR U.S. SENATE?

MORE LIKELY	33.9%
LESS LIKELY	24.6%
NO EFFECT/UNDECIDED	39.3%
REFUSED	2.2%

"Washington-based Republicans' elevation of incumbency protection over principle is disgusting rank-and-file GOP members. Great numbers of them are hoping for leaders who advocate returning the party to the pro-growth agenda that helped it achieve a governing majority in the first place," concluded Toomey. "While I'm sure Mayor Laffey actually appreciates the results of the NRSC's ads against him, it's a sad commentary on the state of the Republican party leadership in Washington."