Democrat Jack Conway has cut sharply into Republican Rand Paul's once-commanding lead in Kentucky's U.S. Senate race, moving into a statistical tie with a little more than five weeks before Election Day, according to the latest Courier-Journal/WHAS11 Bluegrass Poll. The poll shows that Conway, the state's attorney general, is now appealing to voters who say they are neutral on the tea party — Paul's base of support.
And Conway is building a significant lead among women, who earlier were almost evenly split between the two candidates.
According to the poll, Paul leads Conway 49 percent to 47 percent, with 4 percent undecided. That lead is well within the poll's 4 percentage point margin of error.
The poll, conducted by SurveyUSA, questioned 611 likely voters Tuesday through Thursday.
The previous Bluegrass poll, released the first week of September, showed Paul leading Conway 55 percent to 40 percent.
Jay Leve, SurveyUSA's chief executive officer, said it's hard to tell exactly what the shift in the race means.
“Whether that is a result of genuine traction for (Conway), second thoughts about his opponent, or a newly raised consciousness among voters who a month ago were not focused on the contest, I am not sure,” he said.
