Polls show Mourdock, Donnelly deadlocked in Senate race

The Indiana Senate race has been peppered with surprises since Republican Sen. Richard Lugar, the third longest-serving member in the Senate, was ousted by Tea Party-backed Republican Richard Mourdock in the May primary.

Mourdock will appear alongside Rep. Joe Donnelly, D-2nd District, in a race two recent polls project will be extremely tight.

Mourdock led Donnelly 41 to 39 percent in a poll released Thursday by the Indiana Chamber of Commerce and prepared by Market Research Insight.

Seventeen percent were undecided, and 3 percent supported Andy Horning, the Libertarian candidate.

Donnelly led Mourdock, however, 45 to 43 percent in a poll for Majority PAC, a Democratic interest group.

The poll, which was also released Thursday, was conducted by the Garin-Hart-Yang Research Group.

These numbers are inconclusive, as both polls report a 4 percent margin of error. With this adjustment, both polls report the race could go either way.

Both campaigns will likely turn to independent voters to decide the race.

The Chamber poll reported 41 percent of independents remained undecided.

The poll further showed that, among independents, 25 percent supported Donnelly, 21 percent supported Mourdock and 14 percent supported Horning.

Results among party members were more predictable, with 83 percent of Democrats for Donnelly and 80 percent of Republicans for Mourdock.

The Chamber also inquired about the Indiana governor’s race, which will pit U.S. Rep. Mike Pence against Democrat John Gregg. Pence had a lead with 50 percent of the vote, while Gregg lagged at 32 percent.

Undecided voters could change the direction of the race, as 15 percent identified themselves thus.

Libertarian Rupert Boneham was chosen by 3 percent of those polled.

The Chamber polled 600 possible voters. The Majority PAC questioned 601.