Sestak Tied With Toomey

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Oct 26, 2010 13:18 EDT

Reuters-Ipsos poll: Pennsylvania Senate race tied with one week left

USA-ELECTIONS/Republican Pat Toomey, who had a 10 percentage point advangate among likely voters in August, is now locked in a tight race with Democrat Joe Sestak — tied at 46 percent, according to a Reuters-Ipsos poll.

They are battling for the seat of Senator Arlen Specter who lost to Sestak in the Democratic primary. Pennsylvania is one of the key states that will determine whether Republicans can pick up the 10 Democratic seats they need to seize majority in the Senate.

“There are only 6 percent remaining who are undecided so this race will most likely continue to be hard fought until election day,” Ipsos pollsters say.

More participants gave Sestak higher marks than Toomey for policies on China 33-28 pct, keeping jobs in the United States 37-31 percent, and standing up for America’s interests 40-34 percent. Toomey scored better than Sestak on the issue of balancing the budget 36-28 percent.


read: http://blogs.reuters.com/frontrow/2010/10/26/reuters-ipsos-poll-pennsylvania-senate-race-tied-with-one-week-left/

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1. .

[Dawson Leery]

2. K/R

This is good news!

[brooklynite]

3. Don't take this the wrong way, but why should I care?

Should I get elated by Sestak's rise in the polls, and worry less about turning out the vote next week?

When the next poll inevitably comes out showing Toomey ahead, should I get frustrated at the loss of momentum, and give up hope?

Or should I just assume this is and will be a close race, dependent not on what people think on a particular day, but on which side has a better ground operation next Tuesday?

Seriously, I find it hilarious that people complain endlessly about pollter biases, and then obsess about every new poll released.

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4. who's obsessing?

It's just a post to provide perspective with the one yesterday which showed Toomey ahead by a number of points in the polls.

No one is forcing you to 'care'. But I do think the enthusiasm and republican 'wave' memes are worth countering with these reports which show the races are still competitive and support from Democrats is still forthcoming. Pennsylvania is also a good place to measure our Democratic support. These polls are only a 'snapshot', but they can serve to balance out baseless speculation which pervades the political dialog.

[saltpoint]

5. It's my best hope that in the next few days in Toomey's

office, brow-wrinkling meetings are held between the candidate and his polling crew, with the pollsters apprehensively explaining to Toomey that Sestak's support is increasing in many sectors of the electorate and his own support is stalled or perhaps falling away, not only perceptively but below a percentage likelihood of victory, given traditional off-year midterm trends and given the current cycle's particular dynamics, one of which would be that Sestak is demonstrably closer to issues a majority of Pennsylvanians might care about and another of which would be that he, Toomey, is an extremist monster.

During these meetings from behind the closed door, observers hear things being thrown at the walls and objects shattering to bits, and disparaging, coarse language, as the candidate processes the implications.

I'm rooting for Joe.