Dead heat: Nevada Senate race still knotted as Heller, Rosen fight for separation

The Nevada Senate contest was deadlocked in April, and after three months of intense campaigning, it’s still too close to call.

Republican Sen. Dean Heller led Democratic Rep. Jacky Rosen by 41 to 40 percent, within the margin of error, according to a Suffolk University Political Research Center poll released Tuesday.

“With Democratic and Republican voters deadlocked, the outcome of these elections rests with the least connected voters,” said Suffolk poll director David Paleologos in a statement. “The people who can swing this election are third-party voters, undecideds and those who are saying today that they will go to the polls and select ’none of these candidates.’”

The results were virtually identical to a mid-April pre-primary survey conducted by the Mellman Group, which found Mr. Heller ahead of Ms. Rosen by 39.7 to 39.3 percent, despite no shortage of political activity since then by both campaigns.

In a race viewed as critical to control of the Senate, Mr. Heller has campaigned to stop the state from veering left and becoming “CaliforNevada,” while Ms. Rosen has called on voters to “turn Nevada blue.”

The Heller campaign has accused Ms. Rosen of exaggerating her academic and business background, while the Democrat has charged the GOP incumbent with caving to President Trump by voting to repeal Obamacare.

Mr. Heller, seeking his second full Senate term, is seen as the mid-term election’s most vulnerable Republican incumbent, while Ms. Rosen remains relatively unknown after winning her first election in 2016.

 

Is that the best you’ve got, @realDonaldTrump?

Let’s fight back – chip in now: https://t.co/zAiy2LEuxw https://t.co/sSAWCPFYJh

— Jacky Rosen (@RosenforNevada) June 23, 2018

Don’t let our great state become “CaliforNevada”.

Join me in the fight to keep Nevada #Battleborn: https://t.co/3fxixNKhuc pic.twitter.com/6e64BSbE0J

— Dean Heller (@DeanHeller) June 18, 2018

 

 

The Suffolk poll also found the governor’s race similarly knotted, with Republican Attorney General Adam Laxalt leading his Democratic opponent, Clark County Commissioner Steve Sisolak, by 42 to 41 percent for the seat being vacated by term-limited Gov. Brian Sandoval, a Republican.

Mr. Trump lost Nevada by two percentage points in the 2016 presidential race, and Tuesday’s poll showed that Nevadans are still ambivalent about the real-estate mogul turned president.

About 48 percent said Mr. Trump has “kept his campaign promises in Nevada,” versus 39 percent who said he had not, while 47 percent said they approved of his job performance and 48 percent said they didn’t.

The survey of 500 likely Nevada voters also found most were optimistic about the economy and the future, with 51 percent saying their standard of living was better than four years ago, and 56 percent agreeing that they would be better off financially in a year.

The margin of error for the survey conducted July 25-29 for the Reno Gazette Journal was +/- 4.4 percent at 95 percent confidence.