A new poll from North Dakota shows incumbent Democratic senator Heidi Heitkamp trailing the GOP challenger, Rep. Kevin Cramer, by 10 points, 51-41. 

Cramer led by only 4 points in the last poll.  The difference appears to be strong GOP support for the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court and Democratic attempts to smear him.

KFYR (posted verbatim; the writing is a mess –ed.):

Obviously a hot topic lately is the pending confirmation of U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.  Sixty percent of voters in North Dakota support Kavanaugh with 27 percent expressing opposition.  The poll was conducted during the recent disclosure that Kavanaugh may have engaged in sexual misconduct while in high school and college, but before the Sept. 27 testimony by Kavanaugh and one of his accusers before the Senate Judiciary Committtee.

And in national issues, the SRA poll say an overwhelmingly that 21 percent of North Dakota voters have Kavanaugh as their biggest concern.

Followed by health care at 13 percent, 12 percent think immigration-border security. The Economy and jobs at 10 percent, National security at 9 percent. taxes at 8 percent, trade and tariffs and Russian collusion at 7 percent each. Social issues at 6 percent. Gun Control and none round out the list each at 4 percent.

Clearly, Democrats have miscalculated.  They were hoping not only to energize their own voters with the Kavanaugh smears, but also to depress Republican turnout.  Instead, they have energized voters from both parties, negating much of the "enthusiasm gap" they had hoped would allow them to pick off a couple of Republicans in red states, giving them control of the Senate.

Two other races featuring Democratic incumbents – Claire McCaskill in Missouri and Joe Manchin in West Virginia – are also showing signs of the Kavanaugh effect.  McCaskill is running neck and neck with attorney general Josh Hawley, while Manchin's lead has dwindled from 12 points to 8 since the attacks on Kavanaugh began. 

The common denominator among all three Democrats is that they need GOP votes to win.  With Republicans in red states strongly supporting Kavanaugh, the Democrats' tactics appear to have backfired.