Toomey for Senate

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Pat Toomey has extended his lead over his Democratic opponents in the latest Rasmussen Report survey released Thursday.

According to the poll of 1,000 likely Pennsylvania voters conducted Jan. 18, Toomey is leading longtime incumbent U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa., 49 percent to 40 percent. Toomey is also ahead of Specter’s challenger in the Democratic primary, U.S. Rep. Joseph Sestak, D-7, of Edgmont, 43 percent to 35 percent, according to the poll.

Eight percent of voters surveyed said they were unsure who they would vote for in a Specter-Toomey race, while 16 percent said they were unsure in a Toomey-Sestak matchup. In a December Rasmussen poll, Toomey was ahead of Specter by four points and Sestak by six points.

Rasmussen also released survey results conducted with 421 likely Democratic primary voters that showed Specter stretching his lead over Sestak to 21 points Wednesday. In favorability ratings, Specter leads the pack in the “very favorable” category with 16 percent to Toomey’s 12 percent and Sestak’s 8 percent, according to the poll released Thursday.

But Toomey had an overwhelming 45 percent “somewhat favorable” rating, compared to Sestak’s 29 percent and Specter’s 27 percent. Specter led in the unenviable “very unfavorable” category with 33 percent to Sestak’s 11 percent and Toomey’s 10 percent. But 27 percent of voters said they still don’t know enough about Sestak to form an opinion, compared to 16 percent for Toomey and only 3 percent for Specter.

Among Democratic voters in Wednesday’s survey, 27 percent have a “very favorable” opinion of Specter, while just 13 percent view him very unfavorably. Only 2 percent had no opinion and 40 percent have a “somewhat favorable” opinion. That same poll had 23 percent of Democrats polled saying they don’t know enough about Sestak to give an opinion. Another 16 percent viewed him as “very favorable” and 6 percent as “very unfavorable,” while 38 percent say their opinion is just somewhat favorable.