Poll: Democrat Bayh up 7 points in Indiana Senate race

Former Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) leads GOP opponent Rep. Todd Young (R-Ind.) by 7 points in the competitive Indiana Senate race, a new Monmouth University poll released Wednesday finds.

Bayh is up 48 percent to 41 percent over Young for retiring Sen. Dan Coats’s (R-Ind.) seat. Libertarian candidate Lucy Brenton gets 4 percent, while 7 percent are undecided.

{mosads}The poll also shows GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump topping Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton by double digits.

Republican voters in the Hoosier State are more willing to split their ticket than Democrats. Sixteen percent of Trump supporters said they will vote for Bayh, while only 3 percent of Clinton supporters will vote for Young.

“If Bayh can hold on, this will be a crucial pick-up in the Democrats’ effort to retake the Senate,” said Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute.

While Bayh has higher name recognition than Young, some Indiana voters are questioning the former senator’s motives for entering the race at the last minute.  

Forty-two percent of voters believe he’s running for his old seat for political gain, while 31 percent believe he wants to get back into public service.

The race between Bayh and Young has been upgraded to a toss-up by several nonpartisan election watchers as the race for the Senate majority heats up.

Democrats needs to net five seats — or four and retain the White House — to regain control of the Senate. They only need to defend 10 seats, while Republicans will need to defend 24.

Bayh entered the race with a huge war chest of $9 million and has already launched several TV ads. Indiana Republicans have hit back and are targeting Bayh for not spending enough time in the state after first leaving the Senate.

While Young has a smaller war chest, he’s already received outside help from Freedom Partners Action Fund, a super-PAC that spearheads the conservative donor network helmed by billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch. The super-PAC launched a seven-figure ad buy targeting Bayh and backing Young.

The poll was conducted from Aug. 13 to 16 and surveyed 403 likely Indiana voters via phone. The margin of error was 4.9 percentage points.