Despite a late and bitter Democratic primary, Democratic Congressman Benjamin L. Cardin is maintaining a moderate lead of 50% to 43% over Lieutenant Governor Michael S. Steele (R) (see crosstabs).

When undecided voters leaning toward a major-party candidate are added to the tallies, the Democrat's advantage grows to nine points, 53% to 44%. This race remains in the “Leans Democrat” category for our Senate Balance of Power summary.

Cardin had a seven-point edge right after he won the September 12 Democratic primary, narrowly defeating Kweisi Mfume, the former NAACP president.

A couple weeks after the primary Mfume publicly endorsed Cardin. But he made a point of saying on the same occasion that Democrats needed to do more to energize black voters.

The Republican candidate, who is also black, wins a greater percentage of Democrats than Cardin wins of Republicans. That was also true in August, before the primary. Since then, Cardin has increased his share of Democratic support from 68% to just 74%. Steele wins 84% of GOP voters.

Cardin has been depicting Steele as a Bush clone, unsurprising given that 50% of likely voters "strongly disapprove" of the President's job performance. He has also scolded congressional GOP leaders for possible culpability in the Mark Foley scandal. Though the scandal is having the biggest impact on some House races, it has not escaped the attention of Senate candidates.

In a recent debate the candidates clashed over the war in Iraq, the minimum wage, and stem cell research.

Steele supporters tend to be avowedly "for" their candidate (84%) rather than "against Cardin" (12%). By contrast, 29% of Cardin supporters say they're "against Steele," including 25% of Democrats.

That would jibe with the theory that a chunk of Democrats, unhappy with Mfume's defeat, are only reluctantly backing Cardin. But an even larger percentage of unaffiliated voters, 44%, also characterize their vote as anti-Steele.

Crosstabs available for Premium Members only.