Senate poll has Casey up by 11 points over Santorum

State Treasurer Bob Casey's double-digit lead in his challenge to incumbent U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum narrowed slightly over the past month and a half, according to a statewide poll released Thursday.

Forty-eight percent of voters in the Quinnipiac University Poll said they supported Democrat Casey, compared to 37 percent for two-term incumbent Republican Santorum.

The 11-point spread was four points closer than it was in mid-February and as close as the race has been in five Quinnipiac polls taken since last July.

"I would call it a normalizing of the race, because an incumbent senator is seldom as far behind as Santorum was in earlier polls," said Clay F. Richards, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

Both candidates continued to draw strong support from their respective party bases, with Republicans favoring Santorum 70-17 and Democrats lining up behind Casey 77-9. Independents, which Richards said constitute nearly a third of the Pennsylvania vote, favored Casey 53-28.

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