Iowa Secretary of State Chet Culver has broken his tie with Republican Jim Nussle in Iowa’s gubernatorial campaign. The most recent Rasmussen Reports election survey shows Culver leading Nussle 47% to 44% (see crosstabs). The candidates were tied at 42% just a few weeks ago.

When leaners are added into the mix, Culver leads 49% to 45%.

With unaffiliated voters tied, 86% of Democrats say they’re supporting Culver and 82% of GOP voters are backing Nussle.

Thirty-eight percent (38%) voters say they’re “certain” to vote for Culver—a 10-point jump from October’s earlier survey. Thirty-five percent (35%) of Nussle’s supporters say they same of him; that’s a seven point improvement from a few weeks ago.

Culver’s got a slight edge in the favorability race—54% view him favorably versus 51% who view Nussle favorably. Culver’s unfavorable score (42%) is two points shy of his opponent’s.

Sixty-nine percent (69%) of Nussle’s supporters say they plan to vote for him because he’s their candidate of choice while 20% will support him simply to vote against Culver. Conversely, slightly more than half of Culver backers (53%) will choose him as their favored candidate and 41% will do so to vote against Nussle.

Seventy-one percent (71%) of Iowa voters report following the news about former U.S. Rep. Mark Foley closely and a plurality (40%) rate the Republican leadership’s handling of the situation as “poor.” However, when asked how Democrats would have handled the situation had Foley been a Democrat, 46% say “about the same.”

Forty percent (40%) believe it’s common for inappropriate relationships to occur between members of Congress and their staff; 41% disagree. Fifty-nine percent (59%) say the Foley issue will not be an important consideration when they head to the polls in November.

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