Welcome to Thursday, same as Tuesday.
Republican U.S. Senate hopeful Pat Toomey, of Zionsville, continued to lead Democratic candidate U.S. Rep. Joseph Sestak, D-7, of Edgmont, in the latest Muhlenberg College/Morning Call daily tracking poll.
Toomey leads by 8 points, 48-40, with 12 percent still undecided. There was a slight drop for Toomey and slight gain for Sestak in Wednesday’s poll, at 46 percent to 41 percent, but the numbers are now identical to the lead Toomey posted Tuesday.
Toomey was leading in polls throughout the summer and early fall. The candidates were tied at the end of last week in the Muhlenberg poll, 43-43 with 14 percent undecided, but Toomey has maintained a consistent lead since Saturday.
Toomey was viewed favorably by 39 percent and unfavorably by 37 percent, with 23 percent neutral or unsure.
Sestak was viewed unfavorably by 41 percent and favorably by 35 percent. Another 23 percent had no opinion of the Democrat.
The poll was conducted October 24-27 among 460 likely voters with a five point margin of error. Forty-eight percent of respondents identified themselves as Republican and 43 percent said they were Democrats. The rest were third party voters.
That’s the same percentage differential as Tuesday’s poll. The polls tighten slightly when more Democrats are in the mix, indicating candidate support falls largely along party lines, though Toomey also consistently leads among independent voters.