Polls show diminishing lead for Brown in Ohio Senate race

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/senate-races/244925-polls-show-diminishing-lead-for-brown-in-ohio-senate-race

Republican candidate for Senate in Ohio Josh Mandel is closing in on Sen. Sherrod Brown's (D-Ohio) lead, according to two new polls out on Thursday.

Brown still leads Mandel, with 48 to 41 percent support, in a Quinnipiac University/CBS News/New York Times poll, but that's a drop from Brown's 12-percentage-point lead in the same poll earlier this month. However, President Obama's 6-percentage-point lead over GOP presidential challenger Mitt Romney has stayed steady over the same period of time, indicating the movement is not the result of partisan shifts but rather a change in voters' perceptions of the Senate candidates themselves.

The Ohio Poll, out from the University of Cincinnati, gives Brown only a 1-percentage-point lead over Mandel, with 48 percent to Mandel's 47 percent.

Brown spokesman Justin Barasky chalked the diminishing lead up to the influx of outside spending. He pointed to more than $5 million spent by conservative super-PAC Crossroads GPS in the state, and what he said were six different outside groups spending there.