Republican Scott Brown is now tied in his bid to unseat Democratic incumbent Sen. Jeanne Shaheen in New Hampshire, a new poll has found.
A CNN/ORC poll released Monday morning found in a poll of likely voters, 48 percent backed Brown and 48 percent backed Shaheen, the Granite State’s popular former governor who is vying for a second term.
The latest survey, combined with other recent polls, leaves the two statistically tied in Senate race, which in previous months showed Shaheen ahead by double digits.
Democrats say Shaheen is still leading Brown, according to their own polling.
The New Hampshire Democratic Party on Monday released a survey of 600 likely voters that found Shaheen ahead of Brown, 51 percent to 43 percent, with a 24 percent lead among women.
But in nonpartisan polling, Brown, who was a U.S. Senator from Massachusetts, started to edge closer to Shaheen in the polls in August, after releasing a campaign video that criticized Shaheen for backing the “Gang of Eight” immigration reform bill that critics claim is soft on border security and would create a pathway to citizenship for those living here illegally.
In recent weeks Brown has attacked Shaheen on national security issues, a move that reflects a growing concern among voters that the Obama Administration needs to do more to combat the growing threat from the terrorist group known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.
Brown on Monday publicized a letter he sent to Shaheen, calling on her to “not adjourn for the congressional recess,” without passing legislation to both secure the nation’s border and to block U.S. passport holders from coming back to the country if they are involved in fighting with the Islamic terrorists.
Shaheen, meanwhile, has had some success portraying Brown, a Massachusetts native, as an outsider who is part of a GOP-led “war on women,” that includes limiting reproductive rights.
