Jason Kander (left) and Roy Blunt are locked in a tight battle for Missouri's Senate seat. | AP Photo Poll: Blunt, Kander virtually deadlocked in Missouri

GOP Sen. Roy Blunt is locked in an extremely tight battle with Democrat Jason Kander in Missouri's key Senate race, with 47 percent to Kander's 46 percent in a new poll from Monmouth University.

The poll reflects an increasingly close race, one of seven too-close-to-call races that will decide the battle for the Senate majority. Donald Trump is expected to win Missouri handily — and he holds a 52 percent to 38 percent lead over Hillary Clinton in the Monmouth poll. Kander has been outrunning Clinton with an aggressive campaign but needs to win large numbers of split-ticket voters to carry the state on Election Day.


Blunt’s edge in the Missouri race has narrowed over the course of three recent polls conducted by Monmouth University: In August, he had a 48 percent to 43 percent lead, which narrowed to 46 percent to 44 percent in mid-October.

Though Kander has attracted significant attention in recent months, Blunt is still much better known in Missouri, the Monmouth University poll found. Only 56 percent of voters expressed an opinion on Kander, while 73 percent had an opinion on Blunt.

But as Democrats have barraged Blunt with attacks on his family’s work in lobbying this fall, voters are holding an increasingly negative view of him. The poll found 34 percent of voters had a favorable view of Blunt while 39 percent had an unfavorable opinion. In August, his ratings were 33 percent favorable and 28 percent unfavorable. For Kander, 35 percent of voters held a favorable opinion and 21 percent held an unfavorable opinion.

Meanwhile, the Monmouth poll also found a deadlocked Missouri governor's race, with Democratic Attorney General Chris Koster and Republican political newcomer Eric Greitens tied at 46 percent of the vote. Monmouth's August poll gave Koster an 11-point lead.

The poll of 405 likely Missouri voters was conducted Oct. 28-31. The margin of error was plus or minus 4.9 percentage points.

