Republican U.S. Senate candidate Steve Pearce is continuing to gain on Democratic opponent Tom Udall, a new poll shows.
Pearce is trailing Udall by 7 percentage points, 51 percent to 44 percent, in the new Rasmussen Reports poll released Wednesday. The survey of 700 likely voters was conducted Monday and has a margin of error of 4 percentage points.
That’s a 3-point gain for Pearce since the group’s Aug. 20 poll had him trailing 51 percent to 41 percent. In the group’s July 24 poll, Udall led by 25 points. There has been no other traditional, independent polling showing such a narrow race, but an internal Pearce poll released last month had Udall leading by 8.7 points, and an online survey conducted by Zogby International in June had Pearce trailing by 8 points.
The big change since the Aug. 20 survey, according to Rasmussen Reports, is among independents. Last month, Udall led among those voters 48 percent to 39 percent. In the new survey, Pearce led 50 percent to 38 percent.
Udall leads in the new poll 54 percent to 40 percent among women, but Pearce leads 48 percent to 47 percent among men.
In a news release, Pearce characterized the race as “closer than ever.”
“The campaign is on track, and we will continue to let the people know the truth about Tom Udall,” Pearce said in the release. “By the time Election Day rolls around, voters will have enough information to make the right decision to keep Udall out of the U.S. Senate.”
The Udall campaign could not immediately be reached for comment.
Update, 12:40 p.m.
Udall campaign spokeswoman Marissa Padilla said, as she has in the past, that Udall is “focused on listening to New Mexicans and doing what’s right for our state, not on the variety of polls out that come out on any given day.”
“Steve Pearce has a long record of lock-step support of the failed George Bush economic policies that are crushing