Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey is in a neck-and-neck race with Democratic nominee Katie McGinty with just over a month before Election Day, according to a new poll released Tuesday.
According to the latest Monmouth University survey, Toomey and McGinty are deadlocked, both receiving 46 percent support. Libertarian Edward Clifford takes 3 percent backing.
In early September, McGinty led the incumbent Republican by a 4-point margin, taking 45 percent support to Toomey’s 41 percent. Notably, Clifford’s support was halved over the course of the month, from 6 to 3 percent.
However, Toomey’s rise in support comes despite a downtick in the poll for Donald Trump. Trump currently trails Hillary Clinton by 10 points, which is up from 8 points in their previous poll. Clinton leads with 50 percent support to Trump’s 40 percent.
One issue that has come to the forefront in the Senate contest is taxes. Over the past month, the two have traded barbs on the issue, with Toomey arguing that McGinty wants to raise taxes on the middle class. McGinty, meanwhile, has gone after her opponent for saying in a 2007 interview that corporate taxes should be ended.
Toomey holds an edge on the issue. Forty-five percent of respondents believe that Toomey would do a good job regarding taxes, compared to 38 percent who believe otherwise. Meanwhile, McGinty is underwater on the issue as 38 percent think she would do a good job on taxes while 42 percent believe she would do a bad job.
McGinty holds a slight lead in the latest RealClearPolitics average, topping Toomey by nearly 2 points (42.8-41 percent).
The poll of 402 likely voters was conducted from Sept. 30-Oct. 3, and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.9 percentage points.
