Poll: McDaniel Takes 8-Point Lead over Cochran Days from Election

PEARL, Mississippi — A new poll shows that state Sen. Chris McDaniel has surged even further ahead in the final days of his GOP primary runoff against Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS), in what has become one of the most epic bouts to date between grassroots conservatives and the GOP establishment.

McDaniel has taken a 52 percent to 44 percent lead over Cochran, while four percent of voters remain undecided in a new tracking poll by Chism Strategies. The poll, conducted on Friday night, surveyed 697 GOP primary voters and has a margin of error of 3.8 percent–a number McDaniel’s 8-point lead is well outside of.

“Unless Cochran expands the electorate with general election Republicans and crossover Democrats, McDaniel wins,” pollster Brad Chism wrote in a memo accompanying the poll’s release.

This poll comes on the heels of another Chism poll a couple days ago that had McDaniel at a six-point lead, 50-44.