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Poll: Democrat McCaskill leads Republican Hawley by 3 points in Missouri Senate race

by Michael Burke - 09/12/18 10:57 PM ET

Incumbent Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) leads Republican challenger, Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley, by a slim margin in the state’s Senate race, according to a new Fox News poll.

McCaskill is polling at 44 percent among likely Missouri voters, compared to Hawley’s 41 percent, according to the poll.

{mosads}Among those surveyed, 8 percent said they were undecided. More than a quarter of those who backed a candidate in the poll said they could back another candidate in November’s midterm elections.

McCaskill faces a tough reelection bid as one of 10 Senate Democrats facing reelection in states President Trump won in 2016. Trump won Missouri by double-digits in the 2016 election.

Hawley has earned Trump’s praise and aligned himself with the president throughout his campaign. McCaskill, meanwhile, hopes her party’s dissatisfaction with Trump and GOP efforts to undermine the Affordable Care Act can boost her to victory in November.

Nonpartisan political handicapper, The Cook Political Report, has rated the Missouri Senate race as a “toss-up.” An NBC/Marist Poll released earlier this month showed the two candidates in a statistical tie.

The Fox News poll was conducted from Sept. 8-11 with the Democratic firm Anderson Robbins Research and the Republican firm Shaw & Company Research and interviewed 675 likely voters in Missouri. Its margin of error is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

Tags Claire McCaskill Donald Trump