Poll: Mourdock trails by 11 points in Indiana Senate race

Mourdock (AP/File)

Richard Mourdock--the Indiana Republican Senate candidate who sparked a controversy during a debate last month when he said he opposes abortion even in the case of rape because "it is something that God intended to happen"--is now trailing Democrat Joe Donnelly by 11 points, a new state poll shows.

According to the Howey/DePauw Indiana Battleground Poll released on Friday, Donnelly leads Mourdock 47 percent to 36 percent among likely voters.

In September, the same survey found Donnelly and Mourdock were virtually tied (with Donnelly 40 percent to 38 percent), but it appears women have largely abandoned Mourdock in the wake of the firestorm surrounding his comments. According to the new poll, conducted between Oct. 28 and Oct. 30, 50 percent of female voters support Donnelly, while just 32 percent favor Mourdock.

According to the Courier-Journal, Mourdock's campaign disputed the independent poll as "Democratic," saying their internal numbers show the race "continues to be a statistical dead heat." According to a McLaughlin & Associates poll conducted for the Mourdock campaign, he actually holds a slim lead (46 percent to 44 percent) over Donnelly.

But others are already conceding the seat vacated by Republican Sen. Richard Lugar, who lost to Mourdock in the primary.

"It's all over but the crying," Christine Matthews, a GOP pollster for Bellwether Research, wrote in a release with the Howey poll.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/mourdock-senate-rape-abortion-poll-165846020--election.html

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