Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill is in a dead-heat with the Republican challenging her to represent Missouri in the U.S. Senate in the 2018 midterm elections, according to a new poll.
McCaskill and GOP candidate Josh Hawley both have 47 percent support among likely voters in two-way survey conducted by NBC News and the Marist Institute of Public Opinion. Only 5 percent of likely voters told researchers they were still undecided ahead of Election Day on Nov. 6.
McCaskill has a slight 4 percentage-point lead over Hawley when the poll of likely voters is widened to include contenders from the Libertarian and Green Parties, but those findings are still within the study’s margin of error.
McCaskill has a tough bid to secure her third term in office after President Trump swept the state in 2016 by 18.5 percentage points over Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
[Also read: Senate candidate and Missouri AG Josh Hawley says he’s ‘not inclined’ to believe Michael Cohen: Report]
While she holds an advantage over Hawley, Missouri’s attorney general, when it comes to supporter enthusiasm, she has a net-negative favorable/unfavorable rating among likely voters, the poll released Tuesday also found.
Although the poll shows Trump’s popularity in the state is wavering, Republicans are still favored by respondents. Republican candidates edge out Democrats when likely voters were asked which party they would prefer to control Congress and who they would back on a generic congressional ballot.
NBC News/Marist pollsters surveyed 568 likely voters via landline and mobile phones from Aug. 25-28. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.8 percentage points.
