Bennet neck and neck with Republican in Colorado Senate race: GOP poll

Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) is polling neck and neck with Republican Senate challenger Joe O’Dea just two months ahead of the November midterms, according to a new GOP poll released on Wednesday.

The poll, commissioned by the Republican Attorneys General Association and conducted by GOP strategist Dave Sackett of The Tarrance Group and shared with the Washington Examiner by the Colorado Republican Party, showed Bennet with 48 percent support among likely registered voters compared to the construction company executive with 47 percent.

A separate 5 percent said they were undecided. The polling falls within the margin of error, which is plus or minus 4.1 percentage points, essentially tying the two candidates. 

Among independent voters polled, Bennet received 49 percent compared to O’Dea’s 44 percent.

Bennet is seeking a third term in the upper chamber against O’Dea in a race that the nonpartisan Cook Political Report rates as “lean Democrat.” Bennet won his first term by less than a percentage point in 2010 and won reelection in 2016 by 5 percentage points. 

O’Dea has cast himself as a political outsider, winning his GOP primary in late June against state Rep. Ron Hanks, who was on Capitol grounds on the day of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot and has questioned the 2020 election results. 

O’Dea made headlines earlier this month when he said he wouldn’t endorse former President Trump.

“As far as Trump’s concerned, I hope he doesn’t run,” O’Dea said during a radio interview.  “I don’t want to see him as president.”

The poll was conducted Aug. 22-25 with 600 likely registered voters polled. The margin of error is plus or minus 4.1 percentage points.