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POLITICS

Pennsylvania Senate: Toomey (R) Grows Lead Over Sestak (D)

Republican Pat Toomey now holds a 10-point lead over Democratic Congressman Joe Sestak, the widest gap between the candidates since early April in Pennsylvania’s U.S. Senate race.

A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Voters in Pennsylvania shows Toomey earning 49% of the vote, while Sestak picks up 39% support. Two percent (2%) prefer some other candidate, but a sizable 10% remain undecided less than three weeks before Election Day. (To see question wording, click here.) 

The race now moves from Leans GOP to Solid GOP in the Rasmussen Reports Election 2010 Senate Balance of Power rankings. 

Two weeks ago, Toomey, a conservative activist who formerly served in Congress, was ahead 49% to 40%, and earlier in September, he posted a 49% to 41% lead. Except for a brief bounce following his Democratic Primary win in mid-May over incumbent Senator Arlen Specter, Sestak has run second to Toomey in every survey since February.

The candidates will hold their first debate next week, but pessimistic views of the economy  and unhappiness with President Obama and his policies aren’t helping Sestak’s bid.

(Want a free daily e-mail update? If it's in the news, it's in our polls). Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter or Facebook.

The survey of 750 Likely Voters in Pennsylvania was conducted on October 12, 2010 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 4 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

More information from this survey will be released at RasmussenReports.com/Pennsylvania.

Rasmussen Reports will release new numbers from Pennsylvania’s gubernatorial contest later this week.

Just how unhappy are Pennsylvania voters with the job the president is doing? How does the health care bill look to voters in the state these days? Become a Platinum member and find out. 

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