While nearly half the participants in our latest Indy Politics informal survey this week said Democrat Joe Donnelly should not be re-elected to the U.S. Senate, a plurality wanted someone other the current three frontrunners.

More than 650 of our  readers responded to the Indy Politics Political Pulse (made possible in part with underwriting from Winner’s Circle, the Institute for Quality Education and Indianapolis Public Schools)

About 48 percent of respondents did not think Joe Donnelly should be re-elected to the U.S. Senate, but nearly 40 percent third thought someone other than Congressmen Todd Rokita, Luke Messer or Mike Braun would be a stronger challenger.

Respondents were split on how well President Donald Trump was doing regarding his first year in office, but they gave high marks to Governor Eric Holcomb.

Here are some of the highlights…

  • Forty-five percent of the respondents gave President Donald Trump’s performance a “D” or “F”. Eight percent gave him an “A”, 25 percent gave him a “B” and 17 percent gave him a “C”.
  • Nearly 68 percent gave Governor Eric Holcomb’s performance a grade of “B” or better.
  • More than 22 percent thought the state’s top priority in 2018 should be staying fiscally sound, and 65 percent thought the best way to improve Indiana’s workforce was through job training and education.  
  • Nearly 77 percent supported cold beer sales at convenience and grocery stores as well as Sunday retail alcohol sales.
  • When asked which Republican would be best suited to take on Joe Donnelly in the fall, nearly 40 percent wanted someone other than the three leading candidates.   Nearly 25 percent said Luke Messer,  19 percent said Todd Rokita, and 16 percent said, Mike Braun.
  • A total of 80 percent thought marijuana should be legalized for either recreational or medicinal purposes.
  • Respondents were nearly split on whether Indiana needed a “hate crime” law, 43 percent said no, 39 percent said yes, 14 percent said they were not sure.  

You can view the full details here, as well as comments made by the participants.  We will do another informal survey in the Spring.