Republican Cory Gardner leads incumbent Democrat Mark Udall in the fourth straight poll of the U.S. Senate race in Colorado. The new Quinnipiac poll of likely Colorado voters finds Gardner ahead of Udall by 6 points, 47 percent to 41 percent, while 8 percent support an independent candidate. With that independent discounted and in a head-to-head match-up, Gardner leads 49 percent to 44 percent.

That gives the 2-term House member from Yuma a 3-point lead in the Real Clear Politics average of polls against Udall, a first-term senator. Other recent polls from CNN, Fox News, and the Denver Post show Gardner with anywhere between a 2- to 6-point lead, with Udall never registering more than 46 percent support. Udall last led a New York Times/CBS News poll in late September by three points.