A new survey from Emerson College Polling suggests the race for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Ed Markey is growing increasingly competitive, with Markey leading his primary challenger, Congressman Seth Moulton, by just five percentage points, 37% to 32%, with 29% of voters undecided.
Emerson has not polled the race before, but most previous polls have shown Markey with a double-digit lead.
Two other candidates, Alex Rikleen and William Gates, each garnered 1% of the vote among likely Massachusetts Democratic primary voters.
In Emerson’s poll, Markey enjoyed strong support among registered Democrats, women, and younger voters, while Moulton fared better among unenrolled voters and was virtually tied with Markey among men. However, pollster Spencer Kimball noted that women and younger voters were more likely to be undecided than other demographic groups.
The poll included 1,000 Massachusetts voters, giving it a margin of error of 3 percentage points.
The Moulton campaign was quick to celebrate the results, blasting out a press release in which campaign spokesperson Taylor Hebble touted both Moulton’s increasing support and Markey’s inability to reach 50% support, which has also been a hallmark of previous polls.
“The momentum we are seeing on the ground has translated into an undeniable surge in the polls,” Hebble said. “For a 49-year incumbent to remain stuck under 50% for five straight polls is a clear signal from Massachusetts voters that they are looking for a new generation of leadership.”
Hebble also accused Markey of ducking debates and called for him to engage Moulton directly.
The Markey campaign had a radically different gloss on the Emerson poll’s findings.
“Sometimes a poll is such a clear outlier you have to wonder if they accidentally surveyed a parallel universe,” Markey campaign manager Cam Charbonnier said in a statement to GBH News.
”If others want to obsess over polls, they’re welcome to. We’re grateful for the overwhelming support we continue to see from every corner of the Commonwealth as Ed stays focused on the job the people elected him to do: lowering costs, standing up to Donald Trump’s chaos and corruption, and delivering real results for working families.”
Charbonnier also said Markey looks forward to participating in debates “once the field is set,” a strong indication that he won’t directly engage with Moulton until after Democrats gather for their nominating convention at Worcester’s DCU Center in May.
Moulton is currently formulating plans to debate Republian candidate John Deaton, who was endorsed by the Mass. GOP at their nominating convention, with or without Markey’s participation.
