Some polling earlier this month suggested that the South Dakota Senate race might be unexpectedly competitive, but a new poll shows Republican candidate Mike Rounds with a significant lead 10 days before the election.
Rounds is taking 43 percent of the vote, according to the NBC/Marist poll released Sunday. Democratic candidate Rick Weiland is at 29 percent and former GOP Sen. Larry Pressler, now running as an independent, is polling at 16 percent.
The race has been lightly polled compared to other Senate battlegrounds, but earlier polling had indicated a tighter race, which led to Republicans, Democrats and outside groups diving in during the final weeks. A Survey USA poll released at the beginning of October put Rounds at 35 percent, Pressler at 32 percent and Weiland at 28 percent.
The NBC/Martist poll, conducted Oct. 19 to 23, surveyed 730 likely voters. Its margin of error is 3.6 points.
According to TPM’s PollTracker average, Rounds is currently leading 47.2 percent, Weiland at 25.7 percent and Pressler at 16.4 percent.
I don’t realy understand the polltracker average, as the only poll that comes close to that spread is a single Republican sponsored poll. Even just averaging the last two polls would narrow it some.
That being said, it appears that Weiland’s numbers have been fairly static averaged out over the last few months, and any sense this race might be close came from Pressler taking support from Rounds. It looks like the money and attention the Republicans started giving this race when they realized Rounds was running a weak campaign has paid off.
ah, I think you answered the question I was in the process of posing. additional funds and management by the GOP, when it appeared their guy was running too close, in a race that, by conventional standards, ought to have been a cakewalk for the republican.