- The Washington Times - Thursday, September 25, 2014

A new poll shows Democratic Sen. Mark Warner leading Republican challenger Ed Gillespie by nine points, 48 to 39 percent, among likely voters in a U.S. Senate race in Virginia that has thus far managed to stay largely under the radar.

Libertarian candidate Robert Sarvis takes six percent of the vote in the Quinnipiac survey of likely voters.

“U.S. Sen. Mark Warner has been the most popular politician in Virginia for the past several years and appears to be in reasonable shape for re-election,” said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll. “But his lead is not insurmountable with six weeks to go until Election Day.”

Independents actually break slightly for Mr. Gillespie over Mr. Warner, 43 percent to 41 percent, with nine percent opting for Mr. Sarvis. But Mr. Warner has a 94 percent-1 percent lead among Democrats, while Mr. Gillespie has a 78 percent-15 percent lead among Republicans.

The poll of 1,010 likely voters taken from Sept. 22-27 puts Mr. Gillespie much closer to Mr. Warner than other recent public polling, which has the incumbent with leads ranging from the low double digits to around 20 points. The Quinnipiac poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.

• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.

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