Republican senate candidate Christine O’Donnell is catching up to Democrat Chris Coons, according to a Monmouth University poll released today. The poll shows Coons backed by 51 percent of likely voters to O’Donnell’s 41 percent.
O’Donnell has gained significantly among independent voters, building up a 5-point lead over Coons. In the Monmouth poll conducted two weeks ago, O’Donnell was ten points behind Coons among independents.
“While Coons still has the advantage, it has to be uncomfortable knowing that O’Donnell was able to shave 9 points off his lead in just two weeks,” said Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute, in a statement.
O’Donnell has also improved her favorable ratings to 34 percent, up from 31 percent, and decreased her unfavorable ratings by 7 percentage points to 51 percent. Coons’s ratings have trended in the opposite direction, his favorability decreasing 5 percentage points to 45 percent, and his unfavorability growing to 39 percent from 33 percent.
O’Donnell has opened up a lead, 49 percent to 43 percent, in Delaware’s two southern counties. She has also chipped away at Coons’s lead in New Castle County. Coons, who previously held a 30-point lead, now leads by 20 points, 56 percent to 36 percent.
And while sixty-five percent of likely voters think Coons is qualified to be a senator, only 35 percent share the same opinion on O’Donnell. Fifty-six percent view O’Donnell as unqualified for office. Twenty-five percent hold that view on Coons.
The poll, which had a sample of 1,171 voters, was conducted from October 25 to 27. The margin of error was plus or minus 2.9 percentage points.