Aug 22, 2008 7:52 am US/Central
Poll: Franken, Coleman Deadlocked In Senate Race
ST. PAUL (AP) ―
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Norm Coleman, left; and Al Franken (File)
CBS
Even after a wave of GOP attacks and concerns by some DFL leaders, a new poll finds Democrat Al Franken tied with Republican incumbent Norm Coleman in Minnesota's U.S. Senate race.
But the poll, sponsored by Minnesota Public Radio News and the University of Minnesota Humphrey Institute, suggests that the race remains wide open because many Minnesotans haven't yet decided who to vote for.
Forty-one percent of those answering the poll said they support Franken, the DFL endorsee, while 40 percent support Coleman.
The telephone survey of 763 likely voters was conducted Aug. 7-17. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3.6 percentage points.
"Coming into this poll, I was frankly assuming that Al Franken was in trouble," said University of Minnesota political scientist Larry Jacobs, who directed the poll.
Jacobs said Franken has "had such a lousy string of damaging news reports" and that "You couldn't image a candidate going through a worse time."
"And yet when we got the results of this poll it shows that Franken and Coleman are deadlocked," Jacobs said.
In June, a Quinnipiac University poll of 1,572 Minnesota voters had Coleman leading Franken 51 percent to 41 percent.
In the MPR/Humphrey Institute poll, about three out of four respondents said the country is on the wrong track, and more than half of those voters said they were supporting Franken.
Nearly two-thirds expressed disapproval with President Bush, and among them Franken enjoys a nearly 3-1 lead.
Jacobs said if Independence Party candidate Dean Barkely weren't in the race, Franken would have even more support among those who are upset with the Bush administration and the direction the country is heading.
Overall, 8 percent of those surveyed said they were supporting Barkley.
Jacobs said Barkley is "doing real damage" to Franken.
"These angry voters are peeling off and supporting Barkley," Jacobs said.
Jacobs said another factor that makes the race wide open is that 11 percent of those polled said they were undecided, or declined to say how they planned to vote.
Inside the DFL Party, Franken faces a primary challenge from several opponents, including attorney Priscilla Lord Faris who's been running TV ads. According to the poll, Franken has a more than 50-point lead among Democrats over Lord Faris.
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Norm Coleman was born in New York City in 1949. Al Franken was born in New York City in 1951.
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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