(Updated to include more information about polling firm)
Democratic state Sen. Laura Kelly has inched ahead of Republican Secretary of State Kris Kobach in a new Democratic online poll of the Kansas governor’s race out today.
The poll of 1,178 registered Kansas voters shows Kelly up 41 percent to 39 percent for Kobach. Independent candidate Greg Orman was still idling in third with 9 percent. The margin of error was 3.4 percent.
Libertarian candidate Jeff Caldwell was at 5 percent, and independent Rick Kloos was at zero. Five percent of those polled were undecided.
The poll, done by Civiqs of Oakland, Calif., is the first one that shows a little more daylight between Kelly and Kobach. In two previous polls, the two leaders were separated by 1 percentage point.
Kobach led Kelly in the last two polls, 39 percent to 38 percent, with Orman trailing in a distant third.
Civiqs is a division of Kos Media but is separate from the liberal online news site the Daily Kos. However, it operates under the same corporate umbrella.
The firm’s director and chief scientist is Drew Linzer, a survey statistician and former political science professor at Emory University. Here’s a link to the firm’s staff.
Similar patterns are replicated in this poll, with results showing Kobach’s unfavorable rating at 56 percent compared to 37 percent who viewed him favorably and 7 percent who didn’t know.
Forty percent viewed Kelly favorably compared to 31 percent who viewed her unfavorably, while 29 percent were undecided.
Meanwhile, 40 percent viewed Orman unfavorably compared to 19 percent favorably. Forty-one percent were undecided about Orman.
