Rep. Tom Cotton has a 2-point advantage over Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor in a new CNN/ORC International poll of the political knife fight for the U.S. Senate seat in Arkansas. Cotton's 49%-47% edge over the incumbent falls well within the survey's 4.5% margin of error, essentially making this race, which will help determine who controls the Senate, a dead heat two months before Election Day. There is no sugarcoating the bitterness between the two candidates in this high-profile contest. Pryor's campaign released an ad accusing the Republican Cotton of voting against legislation that would help prepare the U.S. for a pandemic situation such as the Ebola virus, while Cotton has charged that Pryor is soft on illegal immigration.
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Republican Tom Cotton holds slim edge over Democratic incumbent Mark Pryor
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Arkansas race is another that could determine who controls the Senate
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White women could be the key voting bloc that determines the outcome
Democratic
Democratic
"The bad news is that he seems to have opened up a new way to lose to Republicans by losing badly with white women," said a @placeholder operative who knows Pryor but is not working on his race.
Mark Pryor
Pryor
Pryor
Mark Pryor
"The bad news is that he seems to have opened up a new way to lose to Republicans by losing badly with white women," said a Democratic operative who knows @placeholder but is not working on his race.
Democratic
Democratic
"The good news is that is a segment of the electorate that tends to break @placeholder, and he has time to close that gap.
Democratic
Democratic
The recent decision to include a measure on the November ballot that would increase the minimum wage in Arkansas from $6.25 to $8.50 by 2017 may help the incumbent by turning out more @placeholder base voters, who often sit out midterm elections.
Mark Pryor
Pryor
Pryor
Mark Pryor
When it was announced that the measure would be on the ballot, @placeholder issued a statement calling it a "common sense proposal to put more money in the pockets of hardworking families across Arkansas."
Mark Pryor
Pryor
Pryor
Mark Pryor
While @placeholder voted for health care reform, he has opposed the President on other issues in the Senate and has not embraced him on the campaign trail.
Mark Pryor
Pryor
Pryor
Mark Pryor
While @placeholder is among the centrists in his party and is the son of a former governor, if you look at the most recent voting trends, they would seem to clearly favor the Republican.
Tom Cotton
Cotton
Cotton
Tom Cotton
In the so-called middle, @placeholder is winning independent voters by 20 points, but it is unclear how nonpartisan these voters may be.
Democratic
Democratic
The poll shows that Pryor has an edge in this category as 9% of Republicans said they are backing or leaning towards voting for him, while 5% of @placeholder said they are backing or leaning toward Cotton.