Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Joe Sestak is tied with Republican counterpart Pat Toomey in a poll released Tuesday, with both men drawing 41 percent support a month after their respective primary victories.
The results show a bump for Sestak. Three months ago, the survey, taken by Public Policy Polling, showed the Democratic congressman trailing Toomey 42 percent to 36 percent. Sestak’s small surge seems centered in consolidating support among Democratic voters, not surprising after he defeated incumbent Democrat Arlen Specter. The lawmaker garnered 70 percent of the vote from Democrats, compared to 59 percent last year.
He also has undoubtedly benefitted from roughly $5 million in TV advertisements the aired continuously in the four weeks before the May primary.
But both men are still largely unknown. Forty-four percent said they didn’t know enough about Sestak to form an opinion, compared to 42 percent for the Republican. Both men also have similar favorables, with 30 percent holding a favorable view of Toomey, compared to 29 percent for the Democrat. Twenty-eight percent hold an unfavorable view of each candidate.
The poll surveyed 609 voters from June 19th to June 21 and has a margin of error of 4 percentage points.
Although Toomey is generally seen as the race’s early favorite, he must still win in a state holding about 1 million more registered Democrats than Republicans. The poll likely reinforces the perception that either man has a good chance of winning.
“Joe Sestak is tied with Pat Toomey even though we see a Pennsylvania electorate for this fall that is much more Republican friendly than the one that turned out two years ago,” said Dean Debnan, Public Policy Polling president. “If Democrats can get their voters more engaged they’ll be favored here.”
Tags: Joe Sestak, Joe Sestak for Senate, Pat Toomey, Pat Toomey for Senate
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