August 26, 2010 04:32 PM UTC

Harstad Poll Answers Ipsos: Bennet 44, Buck 40

•  
• by: Colorado Pols

The Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza updates from yesterday:

In a Reuters/Ipsos poll, Buck led Bennet 49 percent to 40 percent among likely voters, with 10 percent undecided. (Democrats insisted that the poll’s partisan breakdown — 48 percent Republican, 40 percent Democrat and 8 percent unaffiliated — vastly underplays the size of the independent vote in the state.)

Bennet’s campaign will release numbers of its own today showing the incumbent at 44 percent to Buck’s 40 percent. That poll was in the field from Aug. 16-20 and conducted by Bennet campaign pollster Paul Harstad…

Whether the Ipsos poll or the Bennet internal survey is right, both suggest that Buck is a credible candidate who presents a real threat to the incumbent this fall. And, given the primacy of Colorado to both parties’ national strategy heading into 2012, the race is sure to get lots of attention (read: money) from both sides over the final two months of the midterms.