Grassley maintains commanding lead in Senate poll

By Erin Murphy, Gazette-Lee Des Moines Bureau

DES MOINES - Chuck Grassley continues to look like a solid bet for winning re-election to a seventh six-year term in the U.S. Senate, according to a new poll published Friday.

Grassley, Iowa's Republican Senator since 1981, leads Democratic challenger Patty Judge by 18 percentage points in a poll published Friday by Quinnipiac University.

Grassley was chosen by 56 percent of likely Iowa voters surveyed by Quinnipiac; Judge was picked by 38 percent.

Grassley's lead in the new poll is even larger than the 12-point edge he enjoyed in Quinnipiac's September poll in Iowa, and is built in part by strong party support and an advantage among no-party voters.

'It's easy to see how Sen. Chuck Grassley is headed to an easy win in Iowa,” Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac Poll, said in a news release. 'He's getting 95 percent of the GOP vote and running a hefty 26 points ahead among independent voters.”

Grassley also continues to earn crossover support; he was chosen by 13 percent of self-identified Democratic voters who participated in the poll.

Most polls on Iowa's U.S. Senate race have showed a double-digit lead for Grassley, who has never won re-election by fewer than 30 points.

Judge, a former Iowa ag secretary and lieutenant governor, leads by 15 points among voters who cast early ballots.

Quinnipiac surveyed 791 likely Iowa voters from Oct. 20-26. The poll's margin of error is plus or minus 3.5 points.