Boxer grabs 8-point lead in U.S. Senate race poll
Carolyn Lochhead, Chronicle Washington Bureau
Washington - -- Incumbent Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer appears to be fending off a strong challenge by Republican Carly Fiorina in California's U.S. Senate race, racking up an eight-point lead and getting strong support from independent voters, according to a new Field Poll.
With just four days to go in the campaign, the widely watched poll shows Boxer leading Fiorina 49 to 41 percent. Another 4 percent of likely voters favor other candidates, and 6 percent are undecided.
It tracks with a half-dozen other new surveys that show Boxer in the lead by three to nine points. A Rasmussen poll Thursday showed Boxer up by three percentage points, while the rest show larger spreads.
That means Fiorina, 56, the former Hewlett-Packard CEO who is making her first run for public office, has a chance to pull off an upset but faces a powerful headwind.
Most voters have already voted or made up their minds, the Field Poll found.
<SNIP>
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/10/28/MNKF1G3I1L.DTL&tsp=1#ixzz13kDc8fp0