Cortez Masto, Laxalt in virtual dead heat in Nevada Senate race: poll

A new poll released on Thursday shows a dead heat between Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) and Republican candidate Adam Laxalt in the Nevada Senate race less than three weeks before Election Day.

A CBS News-YouGov Battleground Tracker survey found that Laxalt received support from 49 percent of likely voters compared to Cortez Masto with 48 percent. The results are well within the margin of error, leaving the candidates essentially tied.

The survey also found respondents split on whether they believed the Cortez Masto’s policies had hurt Nevadans (43 percent) or helped Nevadans (42 percent.) A separate 15 percent said they did not have much of an effect. 

The Nevada Senate race is among the most important in the country. If Republicans win the seat and hold on to the other ones they now occupy, they’d have 51 seats — and a majority.

Among the issues that respondents called very important to hem, the economy received the highest percentage of responses at 84 percent, followed by inflation at 82 percent, crime at 69 percent, immigration at 60 percent, election issues at 58 percent and gun policy at 56 percent.

That polling likely complicates the political environment for Democrats, who have sought to focus in on abortion as one of the key midterm issues. The issue of abortion in Nevada is unique in that abortion is legal in the state up to 24 weeks of pregnancy.

The CBS News-YouGov Battleground Tracker survey was conducted between Oct. 14 and Oct. 19, with 1,057 registered voters surveyed. The margin of error was plus or minus 4.4 percentage points.