Kansas races for governor, U.S. Senate tighten in latest PPP poll

The Kansas races for governor and U.S. Senate are both tossups with less than a month to go before the Nov. 4 election.

Gov. Sam Brownback and Democrat Paul Davis are deadlocked at 42 percent in the race for governor, according to the latest poll from Public Policy Polling, a firm that has shown Davis with a slight lead since February.

Libertarian Keen Umbehr draws 6 percent of respondents in the poll of 1,081 likely voters, which was conducted between Oct. 9 and 12 and has a margin of error of 3 percentage points. The rest remain undecided.

The poll shows that only 38 percent of Kansans approve of Brownback’s performance as governor, while 54 percent disapprove.

However, respondents appear split on Davis – 39 percent say they have a favorable view of the Democrat, a 1-point increase since September, while 39 percent say they have an unfavorable view, a 13-point increase since September.

Davis has faced a barrage of attack ads from the Republican Governors Association in recent weeks. PPP concluded that the increase in voters with unfavorable views of Davis reflected that more Republicans had moved back toward Brownback.

The race for Senate has tightened since September, when PPP showed independent Greg Orman with a 7-point lead over U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts.

Roberts still trails, but Orman’s lead of 44 percent to 41 percent falls within the margin of error. Libertarian Randall Batson draws 5 percent of the vote with the rest undecided.

A majority of Kansans, 52 percent, support a Republican majority in the U.S. Senate, while only 35 percent support the chamber remaining in Democratic control.

Orman has said he plans to caucus with whichever party wins the majority but has not said which party he will support in the event there is not a clear majority and he is left to cast the deciding vote.

“Voters seem to not be keen on incumbents, but they’re not sold on the challengers yet,” said Patrick Miller, an associate professor of political science at the University of Kansas.

Republicans hold double-digit leads in the races for attorney general, state treasurer and insurance commissioner. Secretary of State Kris Kobach leads Wichita Democrat Jean Schodorf 47 percent to 41 percent in the race for secretary of state, according to the PPP poll.

This story was originally published October 13, 2014 at 4:56 PM with the headline "Kansas races for governor, U.S. Senate tighten in latest PPP poll."