Poll: Toomey, Sestak are even in U.S. Senate race

Democratic U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak and Republican Pat Toomey are tied, with 43 percent of the vote each, in the Pennsylvania Senate race, according to a new independent poll out today.

Quinnipiac University's survey also contained bad news for President Obama, finding a huge drop in his job-performance rating among independents and that Pennsylvania voters, 48 percent to 42 percent, believe the president does not deserve reelection.

Sestak closed the gap from an April 8 Quinnipiac poll that found Toomey ahead 42 to 34 percent. That was a hypothetical matchup, however, since Sestak was in a primary fight with Sen. Arlen Specter (D., Pa.).

Since Sestak's win, Democratic voters have naturally coalesced around their party's nominee.

The poll finds, however, that Toomey has the edge in favorableness ratio. Thirty-five percent of voters had a positive view of the former Lehigh Valley congressman, while 13 percent held an unfavorable view. A majority, 51 percent, said they did not know enough about him to form an opinion.

Sestak was viewed favorably by 31 percent, while 20 percent had a negative view and 47 percent said they had not heard enough about him to form an opinion.

"The Senate race remains wide open, since at this point about half of the voters don't know enough about either candidate," said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. He said that Toomey has held his ground while the bulk of the media attention has been on Sestak for his upset win against Specter.

From July 6 through July 11, Quinnipiac University interviewed by phone 1,367 randomly selected Pennsylvania voters, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.7 percentage points.