October 19, 2010 06:23 PM UTC

Buck's Lead History, Confirms New Poll

•  
• by: Colorado Pols

Results of polling conducted this weekend by Pulse Opinion Research for Fox News–at the end of September, you’ll recall, all the pundits were confidently yammering on about GOP Senate candidate Ken Buck’s “pulling away” in polls from Democrat Michael Bennet. You remember this, ad nauseum, we’re just a silly biased blog and what the hell do we know–don’t you?

What a difference two weeks makes. Tracking closely to the recent Rasmussen poll showing the race–with Rasmussen’s much-publicized questionables factored–within two points, today’s Fox News poll has Buck up by only one point–46%, to 45% for Bennet with 4% undecided. Notable in the cross-tabs is the erosion of support for Buck among men (down to 50%), and growing support for Bennet among women (now up by eight points).

There’s no question that the recent negative press coverage of Buck’s handling of a 2005 date rape case has significantly damaged his candidacy, along with a host of other issues that have broken through to news coverage (and TV spots) in the last few weeks. As a result, where the pundits expected to be talking about this race being sewn up for Buck in mid-October, they’re wondering if Buck’s downward trajectory–not Bennet’s–can be stopped in the two weeks that remain.

This will, if the trend holds, be one of the greatest stories of the 2010 elections.