Republican Jim DeMint is leading in the race to become the next United States Senator from South Carolina. However, the race is closer than most analysts had expected it to be. The latest Rasmussen Reports survey shows DeMint holding a 6-point lead, 49% to 43%, over Democrat Inez Tenenbaum.

The survey of 500 Likely Voters was conducted Monday, October 6, 2004. Margin of sampling error is +/- 4.5 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence.

Fifty-two percent (52%) of South Carolina voters have a favorable opinion of DeMint. Forty-seven percent (47%) say the same about Tenenbaum.

When the year began, South Carolina was expected to yield a fairly easy victory for the GOP. Early surveys found DeMint with a double digit lead in his effort to replace retiring Senator Fritz Hollings. However, Tenenbaum has made gains by attacking DeMint's support for replacing the income tax with a national sales tax.

South Carolina remains in the Leans Republican column for our Senate Overview. While either party could gain control of the Senate this November, Democrats will need to win the overwhelming majority of the Toss-Up states.

Senate control will be decided in a handful of close races including seven Toss-Ups--South Dakota, Colorado, Oklahoma, Alaska, North Carolina, Louisiana, and Florida, Democrats are likely to pick up a Republican seat in Illinois. Republicans are likely to pick up a Democratic seat in Georgia.

Rasmussen Reports has recently released state election polls for Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, West Virginia, Washington, Virginia, and Wisconsin.

To keep up with our latest releases, be sure to visit the Rasmussen Reports Home Page. The left hand column on that page shows our most recent releases along with a schedule of upcoming releases. The right hand column provides a convenient summary of our latest political data. If you need to find information we've released over the past couple of weeks, visit our Other Recent Releases page.