Oregon Public Broadcasting

A new poll out Tuesday shows Democratic state house speaker Jeff Merkley with a small but consistent lead over Oregon’s incumbent Republican Senator Gordon Smith. Ethan Lindsey reports.

The Portland Tribune/KPTV poll shows Gordon Smith continuing to lose ground.

The poll of 500 registered voters found Merkley held 45 percent of the vote, Smith 40 percent, with 12 percent undecided.

Merkley’s lead was outside the 4.4 percent margin of error.

Tim Hibbitts conducted the poll for his Portland-based firm Davis, Hibbitts & Midghall.

He says 3 percent of respondents favored Constitution Party candidate Dave Brownlow.

Tim Hibbitts: “There’s no reason to assume that everyone who votes for Brownlow would vote for Smith. Some, I have no doubt, would. But others may simply be using Mister Brownlow as a parking spot for ‘none of the above.’ And I don’t think the race is over but very frankly, Jeff Merkley is now the favorite to win.”

Brownlow grabbed headlines this week when Smith began airing ads critizing him as “too liberal” – Brownlow called the ads “desperation.”