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The Republican-turned-Democrat's job approval ratings are the lowest they've been since the survey began tracking his performance in 1991. Now, only 23 percent of registered voters — fewer than one in four — believes Specter deserves to be re-elected, the poll found.
READ: Franklin & Marshall College Poll: Survey of Pennsylvanians
"The problem he has is, quite frankly, the party switch as well as the shift he's made to the Democrats — this 90-percent voting record in support of President Obama — has created some problems for him," said G. Terry Madonna, director of the Franklin & Marshall College poll.
In a separate finding, the poll determined Pennsylvanians remain skeptical about the state of the nation's economy.
Nearly three in five say they don't believe the recession will end for several more years, and nearly half of the 616 Pennsylvanians surveyed have experienced some sort of economic hardship in the past year — from pay cuts to unemployment to the inability to pay for health care and, in some cases, gas for their cars.
"Pennsylvanians are feeling the brunt of the recession right now," Madonna said. "They're in no mood to go out on some spending binge."
Specter, a career Republican, switched parties in April after polls showed he would lose a primary challenge from Pat Toomey, and that his support of the $787 billion stimulus plan was unpopular among GOP voters.
"Republicans — some were happy to see him leave. Some think Specter betrayed them," Madonna said. "Democrats wonder if the switch is permanent and wonder if what he did was a matter of political expedience. That's created a serious problem."
Of registered Democrats surveyed in the F&M poll, only 40 percent said Specter is doing an excellent or good job, and 52 percent believe he's doing a fair or poor job. The negatives are much higher among Republicans; 77 percent said Specter is going only fairly or poorly.
Still, Specter is running ahead of Democratic U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak and Republican Toomey — but only because the two challengers have far less name recognition in Pennsylvania, Madonna said.
Specter leads Sestak 30 percent to 18 percent among Democratic voters, with 47 percent undecided. The incumbent leads Toomey 33 percent to 31 percent, with about 30 percent undecided.
The poll was conducted between Oct. 20 and Sunday. Its margin of error is 4.3 percentage points.
Still, most voters say they don't know enough about the candidates to have an opinion.
"Overall, Specter continues to exhibit very difficult re-election numbers, but, like I always say, I never count Arlen out," Madonna said. "Nobody campaigns harder, knows the state better and knows how to win. But even these numbers defy what we've seen in the past. Specter's re-elect numbers must have some big change in the next couple of months."
On the economy, more than a third —36 percent — say they are financially worse off this year than last, and only a third — 31 percent — expect their personal finances to be better off a year from now.
Nearly three in five state residents, or 57 percent, believe the current recession will not end for several more years, and a majority of residents say they are trying to save more compared to one year ago. Only one in eight Pennsylvanians feel they have personally benefited from national economic recovery efforts.
