Politics & Government

2 New Polls Show Mixed Results in Warren/Brown Race

Recent WBUR/MassINC polls show Senator Scott Brown holding a 48 to 45 percent lead over Elizabeth Warren while UMASS-Amherst polls give Warren a 48 percent to 46 percent lead.

Two new polls released Tuesday show a race that has yet to have a clear leader in the campaign to represent Massachusetts in the Senate.

A new poll from WBUR and MassINC of 501 likely voters conducted between Oct. 5-7 shows Senator Scott Brown leading Elizabeth Warren, 48 to 45 percent, but a recent UMASS-Amherst/YouGov America poll of 500 registered voters conducted between Oct. 2-8 gives Warren a 48 percent to 46 percent lead.

The margin of error is +/- 4.4 percent in the WBUR poll and +/- 5 percent in the UMASS poll.

The new WBUR poll shows a seven point swing since the last WBUR/MassINC poll. In the previous poll taken between Sept. 26-28, Warren led 49 to 45 percent.

Based on the WBUR poll, Senator Brown continues to have a high difference in his favorable rating with a difference of plus 23 percent in his favorable (54 percent) and unfavorable (31 percent) ratings. Warren, however, continues to have a smaller gap with her favorable rating of 47 percent and unfavorable rating of 38 percent giving her a difference of plus nine percent.

When asked how important the issue of Warren's claim to Native American ancestry is in deciding whom to support, 49 percent said it was not at all important, 18 percent said it was not too important, and 30 percent said it was either somewhat important or very important.

In the UMASS poll, voters were also asked how much the possibility of the race deciding which party will control the Senate influences their vote. When Brown supporters were asked if they would still vote for Brown if a Brown win meant  Republicans would have a majority of seats in the U.S. Senate, 86 percent said yes, three percent said no, and 11 percent were not sure.

When Warren supporters were asked if they would still vote for Warren if a victory by her allowed the Democrats to keep their majority in the Senate, 94 percent said yes, two percent said no, and four percent were not sure.

The candidates for Senate will debate Wednesday at 7 p.m. on NECN and C-SPAN.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here