Fox News Polls: Dems Lead Key Senate Races

By Steven Shepard  //  September 19, 2012 | 6:44 p.m.

New polls released late Wednesday show Democrats ahead in Senate races in Florida, Ohio and Virginia, the latest sign that Republicans face an increasingly uphill path on their quest to regain control of the Senate in the November elections. The polls, conducted for Fox News, show Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., with a comfortable, double-digit lead, while Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and former Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine hold narrower advantages.

Nelson leads Rep. Connie Mack, R-Fla., 49 percent to 35 percent, with 12 percent undecided. Nelson's vote share is identical to that of President Obama, but Mack lags behind his party's standardbearer, Mitt Romney, who captures 44 percent of the vote at the top of the ticket. An NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll last week also gave Nelson a 14-point lead.

In Ohio, Brown leads Republican state Treasurer Josh Mandel, 47 percent to 40 percent, with 9 percent undecided. Brown's 7-point lead mirrors Obama's advantage in the state, and his margin also matches an NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll last week.

The Virginia race is closer, with Kaine leading former Sen. George Allen, 47 percent to 43 percent, within the poll's margin of error of plus-or-minus 3 percentage points. Kaine runs slightly behind Obama, who leads Romney by 7 points in the commonwealth.

The Fox News survey is the third live-caller poll of race released on Wednesday. A CBS News/New York Times/Quinnipiac University poll showed Kaine ahead by 7 points, while a Washington Post poll showed the former governor and former chairman of the Democratic National Committee leading by 8 points. The new polls Wednesday depict a race that has broken out of the stalemate that has existed since An NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll in Virginia last week showed a tied race. As in that survey, Kaine captures fewer than 7-in-10 nonwhite voters, despite roughly matching Obama's support among whites. The Fox News polls were conducted Sept. 16-18 under the joint direction of Democratic pollster Anderson Robbins Research and Republican Shaw & Company. The polls surveyed 829 likely voters in Florida, 1,009 in Ohio and 1,006 in Virginia. Each poll carries a margin of error of plus-or-minus 3 percentage points.

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