Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley has leapt to a 10-point lead over Republican challenger Bob Ehrlich in the latest Rasmussen Reports poll, reflecting a growing gap between the candidates in the last week of their campaigns.
The poll found 52 percent of likely Maryland voters supporting O’Malley, compared with 42 percent supporting Ehrlich. Five percent of voters are undecided and 2 percent support another candidate, according to the results, which include a 4-point margin of error.
Rasmussen dubbed the Maryland race “solid Democrat” on its “Gubernatorial Scorecard” on Monday, a noted change from its former categorization: “Leans Democrat.”
The survey was conducted on Oct. 24, following three debates between the candidates. A Washington Post poll also released Monday gave O’Malley a 14-point lead with a three-point margin of error.
O’Malley began pulling ahead of Ehrlich in September, after months of a statistical dead heat. Earlier this month, Rasmussen reported O’Malley was leading by 8 points, with 49 percent of voter support compared with Ehrlich’s 41 percent support.
