A new KING 5 poll finds Democratic Senator Patty Murray in a dead heat with Republican Dino Rossi. In a poll of likely voters statewide, 50% tell SurveyUSA they would vote for Murray; 47% say they would vote for Rossi.
After the state's August primary, our tracking poll found Rossi in the lead, but Democratic candidates across the board have enjoyed a bounce in the past few weeks. This newest poll showing Rossi and Murray within the poll's margin of error is effectively the same as our last poll three weeks ago. The poll's margin of error is +/- 4.1%.
With the race so close, it'll be interesting to see what strategy the candidates employ at tonight's first debate in Spokane. Will they play it safe and stick to talking points, or will one of them try to make some news?
Some interesting findings from the poll:
--When asked which candidate would make better decisions about the economy, voters were evenly split between the two candidates.
--When asked who would be more influenced by lobbyists--an attack Murray has made on Rossi in her TV ads--45% said Rossi as opposed to 39% Murray.
--49% want to see health care reform repealed compared to 40% who support it remaining law.
There are many polls being taken in these final days, and some have had dramatically different results. Here's a short analysis on the landscape from our pollster, SurveyUSA:
"A Humbling Day for Pollsters in Washington State: In the election for United States Senator from Washington State, incumbent Democrat Patti Murray and Republican challenger Dino Rossi remain locked in a tight fight, according to SurveyUSA's newest poll, conducted exclusively for KING-TV in Seattle. Murray 50%, Rossi 47% at this hour, within the survey's theoretical margin of sampling error and effectively unchanged from a SurveyUSA KING-TV poll 3 weeks ago.
http://www.king5.com/community/blogs/politiking/New-KING-5-poll-finds-Senate-race-a-dead-heat-104965414.html
