Colorado Senate Race Tightens

The Colorado Senate race has tightened up with the struggling Democratic incumbent, Michael Bennet, tied with former Republican Lt. Gov.Jane Norton while Bennet's challenger for his party's nomination is ahead of her by a modest margin, according to a Public Policy Polling survey conducted March 5-8.

A Rasmussen Reports poll conducted March 2 had Norton leading Bennet 48 percent to 39 percent with the balance undecided or preferring someone else. Former House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, who is trying to wrest the Democratic nomination from Bennet, trailed her by only two points.

PPP says Bennet is tied with Norton at 43 percent each with 14 percent undecided and Romanoff leads Norton 44 percent to 39 percent with 17 percent undecided. The margin of error is 4.1 points.

Romanoff does better than Bennet in the matchup with Norton because he loses only 6 percent of the Democratic vote compared to Bennet's 11 percent, and runs more closely to Norton among independents.

The two Democrats also lead the other GOP hopefuls seeking their party's nod.

Bennet leads former state Sen. Tom Wiens 45 percent to 37 percent with 8 percent undecided. He leads Weld County District Attorney Ken Buck by 46 percent to 40 percent with 14 percent undecided.

Romanoff leads Wiens 45 percent to 34 percent with 21 percent undecided and Buck by 44 percent to 36 percent with 20 percent undecided.

Forty-six percent of voters disapprove of Bennet's job performance while 32 percent approve and 22 percent are undecided. Norton doesn't fare much better with 35 percent seeing her unfavorably while 25 percent see her favorably, with 39 percent not knowing enough to express an opinion. Romanoff's favorable-to-unfavorable is ratio 28 percent to 26 percent with 45 percent not sure what they think of him.

Follow Poll Watch on Twitter