The new Daily Kos/Research 2000 poll of Pennsylvania has good news for Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA), with the former Republican leading his challengers in both the Democratic primary and the general election.
In the Democratic primary, Specter leads Rep. Joe Sestak by 51%-32%. In the general election, Specter leads his long-time nemesis, Republican former Rep. Pat Toomey, by 47%-41%. With Sestak as the Democratic nominee, Toomey has a lead of 42%-39%, within the ±4% margin of error. The TPM Poll Average puts Toomey ahead of Specter by a narrow margin of 43.3%-42.0%.
The previous Research 2000 poll of this race was from all the way back in August 2009, and had Specter ahead of Toomey by 45%-40%. This was shortly before Specter began to trail Toomey in most polls, so there isn’t enough data from this pollster alone to establish a definite trend.
However, it should be noted that this result is very close to a recent Quinnipiac poll, which showed Specter taking a 49%-42% lead over Toomey after having previously trailed in their polls after the last few months. So it’s quite possible that Specter’s numbers could be coming back.
