A trio of Senate Republicans are leading their battles for re-election with only three weeks to go before Election Day, according to a new poll released Tuesday.
Sens. Rob Portman, Marco Rubio and Pat Toomey all lead their Democratic challengers, according to a new Quinnipiac poll, and are running well ahead of Donald Trump in their respective states, all of which are key battleground contests.
Portman continues to hold a sizable lead over former Gov. Ted Strickland in Ohio, taking 54 percent to Strickland’s 41 percent, a 13-point margin. In Florida, Rubio holds the slimmest lead of the three incumbent Republicans, topping Rep. Patrick Murphy by 2 points, 49 percent to 47 percent. Meanwhile, in Pennsylvania, Toomey holds a 4-point advantage over Democratic challenger Katie McGinty, taking 49 percent to McGinty’s 45 percent. In most recent polls, Toomey has been tied or behind McGinty by a slim margin.
While all three GOP incumbents lead, their leads have been trimmed in the two weeks since the previous Quinnipiac poll was taken. At the time, Portman led by 17 points (55 percent-38 percent), Rubio by 4 points (48-44) and Toomey by an 8-point margin (50-42).
Overall, according to the latest RealClearPolitics average, Portman leads Strickland by 15.5 points. Rubio, a former presidential candidate, tops Murphy by 4.2 points, while Toomey remains in a dead heat with McGinty, leading her by only 0.4 points.
The polls for all three were taken Oct. 10-16, after a leaked video showed Trump making lewd comments about women on a hot microphone and as sexual assault allegations trickled out against the GOP nominee.
Trump currently trails former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in both Florida (48 percent-44 percent) and Pennsylvania (47 percent-41 percent). The two are tied in Ohio (45 percent-45 percent).
The poll of likely voters was conducted by landline and cell phone. It has a margin of error of 3.8 percent in Florida and Pennsylvania and 3.9 percent in Ohio.
