An article in The Courier Journal today confirms the approval ratings data released by our campaign last week.  The Bluegrass Poll shows Senator McConnell’s approval rating at 54% with 28% disapproving.  The numbers we released last week showed his approval rating at 59% and 53% in two separate polls.

Also noteworthy is that 47% of Kentucky Democrats approve of the way Senator McConnell is doing his job.

Here's an excerpt of the article:

A majority of Kentuckians continue to approve of the job that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is doing, though they are nearly evenly divided over whether he should support the war in Iraq, according to The Courier-Journal's latest Bluegrass Poll.

The Kentucky Republican's approval rating was 54 percent -- unchanged from the last time the Bluegrass Poll asked about McConnell, in February -- while 28 percent disapproved and 17 percent had no opinion.

Forty-four percent said McConnell should oppose President Bush's policies in Iraq, while 42 percent said he should back the president and 14 percent were undecided.

The poll of 812 adults, taken Sept. 13-18, has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.4 percentage points.

Billy Piper, McConnell's chief of staff, said the new numbers show that the GOP Senate leader is looking strong for his re-election bid next year.  "On overall terms, it's good to see that his favorable rating is holding steady," Piper said. "And it's probably of note that his disapproval rating is so low, given that the only ads on the air since February have been ads critical of Senator McConnell."

Piper referred to numerous TV ads run in Kentucky by anti-war groups, attacking McConnell for his staunch support of Bush's Iraq policy. He has been a highly visible figure in Washington during the national debate over the effectiveness of Bush's troop surge in Iraq.