A new poll by the Washington, D.C., newspaper The Hill finds Democratic congressional candidate Denny Heck trailing Republican Jaime Herrera by just two points, well within the statistical margin of error, as ballots go in the mail this week.
The Hill’s poll, which was conducted Oct. 2-7 by a Democratic pollster, surveyed 400 likely voters in the 3rd Congressional District via telephone. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.9 percent.
The poll found 42 percent of likely voters plan to support Herrera, a 31-year-old state legislator who lives in Camas, and 40 percent favor Heck, an Olympia business entrepreneur who represented Clark County in the Legislature for five terms in the 1970s and 1980s.
A total of 15 percent of voters remain undecided less than three weeks before the Nov. 2 election, according to poll results.
Herrera is leading among male voters, younger voters and Independents, the poll found, while women and older voters are trending toward Heck.
The Hill also released campaign spending totals for the two major political party campaign committees. They show that show Republicans are spending far more on the race than their Democratic counterparts.
The National Republican Campaign Committee has spent about $644,000 on advertising seeking to influence the race, while the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has spent about $105,000.
Herrera has held a lead against Heck in polls conducted since the Aug. 17 primary, but recent polling indicates Heck is beginning to close the gap.
The Hill is conducting polling in every competitive House race in the nation leading up to the election.
Kathie Durbin: 360-735-4523 or kathie.durbin@columbian.com.
