“If the 2010 congressional election was being held today and the candidates were Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter the Democrat and Frank Guinta the Republican, who would you vote for,” we asked.

Declining poll numbers after August recess

Shea-Porter leads Guinta 46.3% to 43.4%. Ten point three percent are undecided.

For comparison purposes, a Republican-sponsored poll in April showed Shea-Porter leading Guinta 43% to 34%, with 24% undecided.

More problematic for Shea-Porter is her image ratio. More voters now disapprove than approve of the job she is doing in Congress by a 48% to 43.6% margin. Eight point four percent are unsure. An April University of New Hampshire poll showed her Favorable/Unfavorable ratio to be 38% to 35%.

“Frank Guinta has two things going for him right now,” said Steve DeMaura of Populus Research. “We’re seeing a general swing toward Republican candidates on the generic congressional ballot. And Carol-Shea Porter’s negatives have shot through the roof as a result of a calamitous August recess.”

Shea-Porter spent much of the August recess avoiding direct engagement with her constituents. She refused to hold traditional, New Hampshire-style town hall meetings until pressured into doing so last Saturday by Republicans and state media.

During one of her two town hall meetings, Shea-Porter evicted a retired cop and twenty-seven year veteran of the Air Force Reserves for being, as she stated in a press release, “unruly.” Video of the incident has dominated conservative cable news shows this week (see appended video below).

NowHampshire.com will release the complete poll on Thursday afternoon.

Contact: @patjhynes