Democrat Maggie Hassan narrowly leads incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte in the closely watched New Hampshire race, a new WBUR poll (topline, crosstabs) finds.

Hassan, the state's governor, has the backing of 48 percent of likely voters, compared with 46 percent for Ayotte. Six percent of respondents said they're supporting another candidate, or don't know.

Hassan is also more popular. Forty-nine percent have a favorable view of the Democrat, while 38 percent have an unfavorable view of her. Ayotte's favorable/unfavorable numbers are 45 percent/43 percent.

The live telephone poll of 502 likely voters was conducted by the MassINC Polling Group from Sept. 27-29. It has a margin of error of 4.4 percentage points.

The survey also finds a close governor's race. Republican Chris Sununu leads Democrat Colin van Ostern 47 percent to 44 percent.