Maryland senate: democrats with small lead over Steele [View All]

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Maryland senate: democrats with small lead over Steele

rasmussenreports.com Sat Aug 19, 7:38 AM ET

In the latest Rasmussen Reports poll of the competitive U.S. Senate contest in Maryland, Republican Lt. Governor Michael Steele slightly trails each Democratic contender. Congressman Ben Cardin (D) leads Steele 47% to 42%. Former NAACP President Kweisi Mfume (D) leads the Republican 46% to 44%. This sets the stage for a closely fought general election no matter which Democrat wins the September 12 primary.

This race is listed as Leans Democrat in our Balance of Power summary. That would change to Toss-up if Mfume wins the primary. The state's Governor's race is also competitive.

Cardin was seen early on as the clear frontrunner in the race. More recently, Mfume is thought to be much more competitive in the Democratic primary. In our general election poll, among Democrats, Mfume now collects a few percentage points more support than Cardin does. Mfume is also favorably viewed by more Democrats. Cardin, though, is still thought to be the better organized and better funded candidate.

Some people believe that Mfume may benefit from the large number of candidates in the primary field. That could create a situation where no candidate receives more than 35% of the vote........

http://news.yahoo.com/s/rasmussen/20060819/pl_rasmussen/marylandsenateaug20060819