Republican Rep. Cory Gardner has opened up a seven-point lead over Democratic incumbent Sen. Mark Udall in the key Colorado race for the Senate, a new poll shows.
According to the
USA Today/Suffolk University survey, Gardner pulled in 46 percent support to Udall's 39 percent support among likely voters. A Suffolk poll
in September showed Gardner ahead of Udall by just 1 point, 43 percent to 42 percent.
The poll has a margin of error of 4.4 percentage points.
David Paleologos, the director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center, told
The Washington Post the poor polling is "not all Udall's fault."
"[I]t's an anti-Washington D.C. feeling," he said. "But it's not hurting Gardner as much. The other part is that local news that took place in Colorado over the weekend about the teenagers trying to enlist in (the Islamic State) and they lived in Denver suburbs. That was a huge Colorado news story, and I think a lot of people were immediately tuned in. Voting is emotional, and when you have high anxiety it gets picked up in the polling. It could settle down."
Paleologos also said "it's close among women, and we don't know whether that is security or ISIS issues or parents of children or other issues."
Udall has almost exclusively used Gardner's stand on women's issues, including his previous support for a state measure that would effectively ban abortion his main focus in his re-election campaign,
The Hill notes – though it may have backfired since
The Denver Post has now endorsed Gardner, accusing Udall of running an "obnoxious one-issue campaign."
The Post, citing
Real Clear Politics, reports 10 of the last 11 independent public polls have shown Gardner leading.
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