(Updated to include comments from interview with Marshall with more poll details)
A much anticipated New York Times poll shows Republican Congressman Roger Marshall up 4 percentage points in the U.S. Senate race over Democrat Barbara Bollier.
The Times poll, done in partnership with Siena College, found that Marshall led Boller 46% to 42%.
Four percent went to Libertarian Jason Buckley. Six percent was undecided.
The New York Times poll surveyed 755 likely voters and had a margin of error of four points.
In what perhaps might be an important factor for Marshall is President Donald Trump’s support in Kansas, which has evaporated significantly since 2016.
The Times poll showed Trump leading Democrat Joe Biden 48% to 41%. Trump carried the state by more than 20 percentage points in 2016.
Marshall has aligned himself with Trump throughout the campaign and believes the president’s performance in Kansas could have implications for the Senate race.
“Certainly, the better President Trump does, the better that we do,” Marshall said in an interview Wednesday at a stop of the “Women for Amy” bus tour in Kansas City, Kansas. to galvanize support for Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett.
“I do think his voters will show up to vote for him,” Marshall said. “I have yet to meet a person who would vote for President Trump and vote for my opponent.”
Marshall remained steadfast in his support for Trump.
“I am very proud of our accomplishments,” he said. “I am proud of the greatest economy we’ve ever had in my professional lifetime that we helped build together.
“I think his policies have us moving in the right direction.”
Marshall was upbeat about his chances of winning the election, saying he thought he would do well with undecided voters.
“I think there’s just this group of people that say they’re undecided, but we do really well with them,” he said.
“They like who we are and what we stand for, our Kansas values,” he said.
Details of the poll showed Bollier to be strongest in the Kansas City area where she received support from 50% of voters and in the Topeka/Lawrence area where she polled at 58%.
Marshall trailed Bollier by 12 percentage points in the Kansas City area and 26 points in the Topeka/Lawrence area.
Marshall, meanwhile, was performing well in the 1st Congressional District, which he represented in Congress since 2016, the poll showed.
Marshall received support from 57% of those surveyed there and 46% of Sedgwick County.
The Times poll results are similar to most other polls that have shown either Marshall or Bollier leading by several percentage points.
A SurveyUSA poll from early August showed Marshall enjoying support from 46% of the 1,202 likely voters surveyed. Bollier had support from 44% of those surveyed. Ten percent were undecided.
A poll paid for by Emily’s List and conducted by Public Policy Polling of North Carolina in early August showed Marshall at 43% and Bollier at 42% with a margin of error of 3.3%.
Another poll paid for the Democratic affiliated group Protect Our Care showed Marshall and Bollier deadlocked at 43% each. Protect Our Care defends the Affordable Care Act.
Both polls paid for by Democratic groups were done Public Policy Polling, which had Greg Orman leading Republican incumbent Pat Roberts the day before the 2014 U.S. Senate race.
PPP showed Orman leading Roberts 47% to 46%. Roberts won the race with about 52% of the vote to about 43% for Orman.
Bollier’s own internal polling showed her leading Marshall with 45% of the vote. Marshall was at 43% in the Bollier poll.
