Judd has been a strident voice against the controversial practice of mountaintop removal mining, which is common in eastern Kentucky and which she’s dubbed “rape” of pristine parts of Appalachia.

Judd has spoken about a bid with a handful of lawmakers, including Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), who declined to comment Thursday. But she has yet to speak with senior Democrats such as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

Text Size -

+

reset

Even though Judd lives in Tennessee and was a delegate from the Volunteer State for President Barack Obama at the Democratic National Convention this year, she is unlikely to run for office in that state, sources say. She is also weighing whether to take on Kentucky’s junior GOP Sen. Rand Paul in 2016, rather than take on a bare-knuckle campaigner like McConnell.

If she decides not to run against McConnell, Democrats have their eyes set on several other prospective candidates, including Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes. And while her candidacy would energize the liberal base and draw enormous media attention, some Democrats in Kentucky and Washington are clearly uneasy about her running. They fear she could be overwhelmed by attacks from the McConnell operation, which has been preparing for a presidential-style campaign for two years.

McConnell’s campaign sees several of Judd’s positions as particularly harmful. When voters learn she lives in Tennessee and in Scotland — the native country of her husband, auto racer Dario Franchitti — 51 percent of voters are less likely to vote for her, according to the McConnell poll.

When they hear her remark that “the era of coal plant is over,” 49 percent of voters are more likely to vote against her, the survey found.

And when voters are informed that Judd reportedly said it’s “unconscionable” to “breed” when people in Africa and other regions of the world are starving, 55 percent say they’re less likely to vote for her, the poll found.

Finally, after McConnell’s team points out that Judd’s grandmother called her a “Hollywood liberal,” about 40 percent of voters were more inclined to oppose her.

Taken together, the poll found, McConnell’s lead jumps to 56-36 over Judd.

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg in a state where Obama lost 116 out of 120 counties, Republicans say.

“She’ll have the same problem whether it’s against McConnell or myself,” Paul told POLITICO on Thursday. “One of our bigger industries is coal, and she’s an extremist on that issue. It will make it tough for her.”

Democrats say McConnell is showing just how vulnerable he is by leaking a poll about the actress — two years ahead of his election and when Judd is clearly still in the exploratory phase.

“If Mitch McConnell had spent as much time worrying about creating jobs in Kentucky and heading off the fiscal cliff as he is spending worrying about a potential candidacy from Ashley Judd,” said a Democratic consultant involved in discussions about a potential Judd candidacy, “he probably wouldn’t be as vulnerable.”