Republican Cory Gardner now leads Democrat Mark Udall by 7 points, 46 – 39, in the race for the Senate in Colorado according to a new USA Today/Suffolk University poll.
While Gardner has led in previous polls, he now looks to be putting some distance between himself and the incumbent, Udall. USA Today calls it “a troubling finding for Democrats.”
Also, incumbent Democrat Gov. John Hickenlooper is trailing his Republican GOP challenger Bob Beauprez by 2 points, 45 – 43.
Colorado is considered critical to the GOP’s effort to capture the Senate majority in November and thing appear to be trending their way throughout the state. The raw poll data can be found here.
The findings in the state, which President Obama carried in 2008 and 2012, signal an electorate that seems to be tipping toward the GOP. The poll of 500 likely voters, taken Saturday through Tuesday, comes as voting centers opened this week in Colorado and thousands of the state’s distinctive mail-in ballots have been cast.
Those surveyed now support the Republican candidate for Congress in their district over the Democrat by 51%-39%, doubling the GOP’s advantage in September on the so-called generic congressional ballot and well outside the poll’s margin of error.