WISH-TV/Ball State Hoosier Survey shows Bayh leading Senate race
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – Democrat Evan Bayh holds a solid lead in his effort to win back a U.S. Senate seat.
A new WISH-TV/Ball State Hoosier Survey shows that Bayh is holding up under negative attacks from Republican Todd Young.
Days after Bayh entered the Senate race in July Democrats released an internal poll that showed him with a 26 point lead. It appeared insurmountable at the time and while the race is now a lot closer, Bayh is still in control.
His lead in the Hoosier Survey is six. It’s 49 percent to 43 percent but just six percent are undecided. The poll’s margin of error is 3.9 percent.
“The issues that Young has used thus far simply have not taken root in terms of Bayh’s people moving away from him,” said Ray Scheele, Director Emeritus of the Bowen Center for Public Affairs at Ball State University.
“He’s got strong support among the youngest cohort, millennials, and some good support among those over 65,” said Joe Losco Director of the Bowen Center for Public Affairs at Ball State University. “He’s seemed to have weathered any storm about his residency.”
Bayh has battled the charge that he left Indiana for Washington and the Hoosier Survey found that the residency question will not affect the decision of 71 percent of Indiana voters.
A spokesman for Bayh responded to the poll by saying that he is grateful for the continued support of Hoosiers.
A Young campaign spokesman suggested that the poll would be within the margin of error if the Libertarian candidate, Lucy Brenton, was included.