Christine O'Donnell trailing in Del. Senate race, poll shows
A new poll shows Republican Christine O'Donnell badly trailing Democrat Chris Coons in a Delaware Senate race.
Republican Christine O'Donnell is seen during an interview after attending a rally, Oct. 1, at her new campaign headquarters in Wilmington, Del. Polls show O'Donnell trailing Democrat Chris Coons in Delaware Senate race.
Rob Carr/AP
Washington
A new poll shows Republican Christine O'Donnell badly trailing Democrat Chris Coons in a Delaware Senate race that Republicans were heavily favored to win until the tea party-backed O'Donnell pulled off an upset in the GOP primary last month.
The survey released Wednesday by Fairleigh Dickinson University-PublicMind found Coons leading O'Donnell 53 percent to 36 percent.
It shows O'Donnell struggling within her own party, with only about two-thirds of Republicans saying they support her.
It also found that O'Donnell's primary opponent, Rep. Mike Castle, would have a strong lead if he were the GOP nominee.
The statewide survey of 801 likely voters was conducted Sept. 27 to Oct. 3. It has a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.