Grassley holds slim lead over Franken in latest Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll

DES MOINES, Iowa (KCRG) - The latest Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll showed a lead for incumbent Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley that has narrowed since the poll’s last edition in the summer.

The poll of likely voters, taken between Oct. 9 and 12, showed Grassley with 46% support over Democratic challenger Mike Franken’s 43%. 4% of respondents said they would cast a ballot for a different candidate, 4% would skip voting on the Senate race, and 3% are not decided.

The poll shows a swing toward Franken of 5% since the last time the Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll sampled Iowans’ voting interests in early July. If it translated perfectly to real votes in the election, it would be Grassley’s closest race for the Senate seat since taking office in 1980.

Franken showed additional strength among independent voters in the October edition of the poll, leading Grassley 46% to 35%. Franken’s support among that group increased by 8% since July, while Grassley’s slipped by 2%.

The survey also indicated a record-high disapproval rating for Grassley among Iowans, for the first time indicating more disapprove of his job performance than approve by a 48% to 44% margin.

The poll, conducted by Selzer & Co., included 804 Iowans of voting age that were contacted by landline and cellular phone, with 620 of those considered likely voters. The margin of error for likely voter questions is +/- 3.9%.