Another new poll of the Massachusetts Senate race shows Democratic former White House financial reform adviser Elizabeth Warren leading the Republican incumbent, Sen. Scott Brown.
The numbers: Warren 46%, Brown 43%. The poll was conducted from February 6-9, and has a ±4.4% margin of error. It was commissioned by the Boston NPR affiliate, and conducted by independent pollster MassINC.
The poll actually shows Brown with a solid personal favorable rating of 50%, to only 29% unfavorable. By comparison, Warren is in positive territory but less well known at a 39%-29% figure. But the fact remains that Brown has a tough hill to climb in this election, just as he did when he was first elected two years ago.
Brown was elected to the Senate in a special election in January 2010, following the death of Sen. Ted Kennedy, in a stunning upset against Democratic state Attorney General Martha Coakley. However, a major challenge for him in 2012 is that he is a Republican senator in a deep-blue state, which is expected to vote Democratic by a wide margin in the presidential race.
The TPM Poll Average currently shows Warren ahead by a margin of 47.1%-42.7%.
