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Poll finds Gov. & Supt. races closer than expected, Dem leading in U.S. Senate race

A new pollshows Democrat Joe Donnelly has opened a double-digit lead over Republican Richard Mourdock  in the Indiana Senate contest.

The Howey-DePauw Indiana Battleground Pollis the first independent survey to be publicly released since Mourdock said during a debate that he believes pregnancies that occur after rapes are intended by God.

The survey has Donnelly with 47%, Mourdock with 36% and Libertarian Andrew Horning with 6%, while 11% of the voters surveyed were undecided.

A Purdue professor is surprised by Donnelly-Mourdock race poll. Political Science Department Head Rosie Clawson says many voters may have written off Mourdock after his comment about rapes which result in pregnancies.

"This was, I think, the final straw. Republicans, especially Republican women, probably just looked at this and said, 'OK, this isn't acceptable. This is not someone we want to send to Washington to represent us.'"

She says the change in poll numbers shows voters are paying attention to the debates and what kind of campaigns the candidates for Senate are running.

The same poll of likely Hoosier voters shows the state superintendent of public instruction race is a toss-up.

The Howey-DePauw poll found incumbent Republican Tony Bennett has 40% support and Democrat Glenda Ritz has 36%. Roughly one-in-four voters are undecided.

Clawson thinks Ritz is getting help from teachers and some Republicans.

"Conservatives may have a concern about Bennett and this very top-down reform, ideas coming from the state. A lot of folks, especially conservatives, want schools policies, education policies to be determined at the local level, rather than the state or federal level."

She thinks the undecided voters likely will determine the superintendent’s race and the U.S. Senate race.

Clawson says whether they all go to one candidate, are split between them or decide not to vote, could result in something different from what the survey indicates.

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