March 05, 2010 09:54 PM UTC

New Rasmussen Poll Shows Tightening CO Senate Race

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• by: redstateblues

In the latest round of polling from Republican-leaning Rasmussen Reports, their data shows a tightening race–especially for Andrew Romanoff.

The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of voters in the state finds Republican Lieutenant Governor Jane Norton in a virtual tie with former Democratic state House Speaker Andrew Romanoff. Norton earns 44% of the vote to Romanoff’s 42%. Six percent (6%) prefer some other candidate, and nine percent (9%) are undecided.

Norton has been the clear leader in the race in several previous surveys. She led Romanoff by 12 points in January, but the gap between the two narrowed to seven points – 45% to 38% – last month.

Against Bennet, however, Norton still posts a nine-point lead, 48% to 39%. Last month, she led the incumbent 51% to 37%, a two-point gain from January. Seven percent (7%) favor another candidate. Six percent (6%) are undecided.

The poll robo-called 500 likely voters, and contains a +/- 4.5% margin of error.

For Andrew Romanoff, these are the kinds of numbers the campaign has been waiting for. Despite the fact that Rasmussen’s methodology has been repeatedly questioned, in this poll, methodologies aside, Romanoff is the stronger Democratic candidate against every potential Republican candidate. Against Buck and Norton, he is well within the margin of error.

While this poll clearly favors Romanoff, the Bennet camp can take heart from the fact that Bennet gained five points on his likely general election foe in the span of just two months–without having put up ads on TV and radio criticizing opponents like Norton, and e-mailing negative YouTube ads like Romanoff.

Without another polling outfit consistently taking a barometer of this race, it’s hard to tell where the numbers actually lie. However, a recent Research 2000 poll showed Bennet leading Norton by 1 point.