New Arizona Republic poll projects who’s ahead in Kelly-Masters Senate race

PHOENIX - U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly has opened a 7 percentage point lead over Blake Masters, his Republican challenger, according to a new poll of likely voters conducted for The Arizona Republic.

With early voting set to start Oct. 12, Democrat Kelly leads Masters 49% to 42%, with 7% undecided in a race long seen as one of the most pivotal in determining control of the Senate.

Perhaps most notably, Kelly leads Masters among independent voters, 51%-36%, with 11% in that group still undecided. He also has narrow, but meaningful, support from Republicans, too.

Kelly’s overall lead is approaching an outright majority in the poll, conducted Sept. 21-25 via cell and landline phone interviews with 500 state residents by Suffolk University for The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com. The poll’s margin of error is plus or minus 4.4 percentage points.