Democrat Chris Coons Narrows Mike Castle's Lead in Delaware Senate Race

Democrat Chris Coons has cut into the lead of nine-term Republican Rep. Mike Castle in the race to fill the Delaware Senate seat formerly held by Vice President Joseph Biden, according to a Rasmussen Reports poll conducted July 14.

In April, Castle had led Coons, who is the New Castle County executive, by 55 percent to 32 percent with the rest preferring another candidate or undecided. Now his margin is 47 percent to 36 percent, the first time he has been under the 50 percent mark in Rasmussen's polling this year.

Castle, who is the state's lone congressman, has the advantage of being better known than Coons. Only 9 percent say they don't know enough about Castle to express a favorable or unfavorable opinion about him, compared to 23 percent who say that about Coons. Coons' county includes Wilmington.

Coons, at this point, is also suffering from a significantly lower level of support among fellow Democrats (57 percent) than Castle gets from Republicans (78 percent).

Democrats had hoped that Biden's son, state Attorney General Beau Biden, would make the race against Castle but he decided in January not to do so.

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