Poll: Key Senate battlegrounds tilting GOP

Republicans hold a narrow lead in several key Senate races, according to a new Fox News poll released Wednesday.

Although the poll might be good news for the GOP, all the races are so tight they sit within the poll’s margin of error.

{mosads}That includes Arkansas, where Republican challenger Tom Cotton leads sitting Sen. Mark Pryor (D) by 7 percentage points among likely voters, a wider margin than in any of the other five races included in the poll. Cotton edges Pryor by almost 20 points among independent voters and enjoys strong support from white evangelical Christians and veterans.

In Alaska, Dan Sullivan has a 44 percent to 40 percent advantage over Sen. Mark Begich (D), up by 4 points.

Sullivan may be benefiting from his efforts to tie Begich to President Obama. Sixty-one percent of the Alaska voters surveyed for the poll said they disapproved of Obama’s job performance.

Colorado Rep. Cory Gardner leads Democratic incumbent Sen. Mark Udall, 43 percent to 37 percent. Gardner’s challenge to Udall — the scion of a Colorado political family who has held his seat since 2008 — surprised many observers when it was announced.

In Kentucky, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has a narrow edge ahead of Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes, 45 percent to 41 percent, according to the poll.

McConnell, who stands to become the Senate’s majority leader if the upper chamber flips in November, has been fighting for his political life this year against Grimes, Kentucky’s secretary of State. Their race has turned brutal, with McConnell recently facing questions over his former campaign manager’s involvement in a bribery scandal related to Ron Paul’s 2012 presidential campaign.

The poll also found that Republicans were benefiting from a wide base of support among male voters.

Gardner, McConnell and Cotton are all favored by male voters by double-digit margins.

Male voters also heavily favor Sullivan, while female voters favor Begich by a smaller margin. Begich has made women’s health issues a centerpiece of his campaign.

The poll comes on a day when Democrats had a reason to hope that they might hold the majority in the Senate.

National Democrats have followed campaign finance reformers and are pouring $1 million into the South Dakota Senate race, where Republican Mike Rounds looks vulnerable against his two challengers: Democrat Rick Weiland and independent former congressman Larry Pressler.

Republican David Purdue, leading Michelle Nunn for the open Senate seat in Georgia, has also faced damaging attacks this week that he engaged in outsourcing during his career in business.

The poll surveyed likely voters in all four states, with a sample size of 706 voters in Alaska, 739 voters in Colorado, 706 voters in Kentucky and 707 voters in Arkansas. They were contacted by phone between Oct. 4 and Oct. 7. The poll’s margin of error was plus or minus 3.5 percent.