On the heels of a Washington Post poll that showed Democrat Tim Kaine and Republican George Allen deadlocked in the 2012 U.S. Senate race in Virginia, Public Policy Polling released one Wednesday that gives Kaine a 2-point edge in the closely watched race.
Kaine held a 46-44 lead in the latest poll, after the two were tied at 47 percent in the firm’s February poll. The highly-coveted independent voters, however, have moved from 50-41 in Allen’s favor to 45-40 in favor of Kaine, according to PPP.
Kaine would beat Tea Party Activist Jamie Radtke 49-33, while Allen would down Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va., who has said he’ll make a decision on whether to enter the race by July, by a 44-39 margin.
“It’s hard to imagine the Virginia Senate race ever being anything other than highly competitive,” said Dean Debnam, president of Public Policy Polling. “When you have two highly polarizing candidates that voters have known for years it’s unlikely either of them will break away from the pack. There’s going to be a low number of undecideds and it’s just going to come down to who does a better job of getting their people out and who can win over the very small number of swing voters there are.”
The Democratic firm, which uses automated telephone interviews, surveyed 547 Virginia voters from May 5 to 8 and the margin of error was +/- 4.2 percent.
