BETHLEHEM, Pa.— Three new polls show Pennsylvania Democratic Sen.
Bob Casey’s lead over GOP challenger Dave McCormick narrowing — with one finding the candidates separated by just 1 point.A joint New York Times, Philadelphia Inquirer and Siena College poll shows Casey (48%) leading McCormick (39%) by 9 points among registered voters — with 13% still undecided.McCormick improved upon his 14-point deficit (50% to 36%) from the same poll back in August, having gained 3 points of support while Casey’s went down 2 points.The second poll, from Lancaster’s Franklin & Marshall College, shows the same trend: Casey’s lead is in the high single digits, but McCormick’s gaining ground.The Democrat (48%) leads the Republic (40%) by 8 points — down from his 12-point lead (48% to 36%) in August.F&M notes more respondents described Casey’s job performance as “poor” (27%) than at any time since at least August 2007, in his first year in office.Still, that poll shows Casey maintaining a much higher net-favorability rating (+2) than McCormick (-14) — perhaps the result of a Democratic ad blitz blasting the challenger’s time as a hedge-fund executive and challenging his deep ties to the Keystone State.F&M finds a small number of Trump-Casey voters (2% of those surveyed) but almost no Harris-McCormick voters.
Casey has historically overperformed among Pennsylvania’s more conservative older voters who remember his father’s time as a popular governor from 1987 to 1995.Thursday’s third poll, from The Washington Post, finds Casey (47%) with just a 1-point advantage over McCormick (46%).The remaining 7% of respondents either back third-party candidates (3%) or are undecided (4%).Both Casey and McCormick have barely favorable perceptions in that poll — 41% favorable, 40% unfavorable for Casey and 37% favorable, 35% unfavorable for McCormick.The Pennsylvania Senate race is expected to draw record ad spending down the stretch as the candidates ...