Kansas’s two high-profile races have become unexpectedly tight in recent weeks, but a new Fox News survey shows Republicans pulling ahead.
After trailing in the immediate aftermath of Democratic candidate Chad Taylor’s decision to withdraw from the Senate race, Republican senator Pat Roberts has regained the lead and holds a five-point edge over independent candidate Greg Orman. Orman led in recent polls, but Roberts’s efforts to cast his top opponent as the effective Democrat in the race appear to be paying off as Roberts now leads Orman 44 percent to 39 percent among likely voters.
Another recent survey by CNN/ORC found Roberts up on Orman by one percentage point.
In the competitive gubernatorial race, Republican governor Sam Brownback holds an even larger lead in the Fox poll. After trailing his Democratic challenger Paul Davis last month, Brownback is now up six percentage points, with 46 percent support compared with Davis’s 40 percent.
In the last month, Brownback’s support among independents has increased by nine percentage points.