Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes holds a slim 4-point advantage over U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell in a new Herald-Leader/WKYT Bluegrass Poll, with many voters saying they disapprove of McConnell but don't yet know Grimes nine months from Election Day.
While Grimes leads the poll 46 percent to 42 percent, which is within the poll's margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points, data reveals that her relatively strong starting position is more about voters disapproval of McConnell than solid support for Grimes.
"This new poll confirms that Kentucky's U.S. Senate seat is up for grabs, and that the contest here will be one of the most exciting in the country," said Stephen Voss, a political science professor at the University of Kentucky. "The voters are evenly divided right now, and so many of them are still making up their minds that the contest could swing in any direction."
Sam Youngman
Lexington Herald-Leader