Another poll shows Sam Brownback trails Paul Davis

It’s difficult to imagine a more troubling campaign year for Gov. Sam Brownback.

State finances look more grim with each passing month, two credit rating agencies have downgraded the Kansas bond ratings on the account of the eroding state balance sheet, an FBI probe has targeted one of Brownback’s closest associates, and roughly 100 current and former Republican officeholders annoyed with the governor have thrown their support behind Democratic challenger Paul Davis.

Those realities and other problems besetting the Brownback administration have turned what a year ago seemed like a glide path for re-election into a real possibility of the former senator’s losing a GOP-heavy state to a Democrat from Lawrence.

Rasmussen Reports, a polling firm sometimes described as leaning conservative, shows that Davis has a 10-point lead over Brownback. The firm polled 750 Kansans deemed as likely voters last week and has reported that 51 percent of respondents favor Davis to Brownback’s 41 percent. That left 5 percent undecided and 3 percent supporting third-party candidates.

The Rasmussen poll is the latest in a flurry of evidence that shows that the race is either too close to call or might be trending in Davis’ favor.