Poll: Incumbent Dem. senators maintain double-digit leads in Ohio, Florida

A new poll shows Sens. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) maintaining healthy leads in their bids for reelection, an encouraging sign from Democrats who had worried the pair of swing-state lawmakers could be tested this fall.

Brown leads Republican challenger Josh Mandel 50-40 percent in a poll released Wednesday by the New York Times. That comes on the heels of a Washington Post poll released earlier this week that gave Brown a 12 point lead, a sign that the incumbent senator may be pulling away. According to Real Clear Politics, Mandel has managed no better than a tie in any of the polls for Ohio, and Brown looks to have rebounded from a swoon during the Republican National Convention in late August that saw his challenger pull to within the margin of error.

In Florida, a new poll from the Times gives Nelson a 14-point advantage over Rep. Connie Mack (R-Fla.). Nelson's 53-39 percent advantage mirrored his standing in recent polls from the Post and Fox News.

Like Brown, Nelson seemed for a time to be in some amount of jeopardy. Some polls in late July and early August saw Mack, who won the Republican primary Aug. 14, pulling ahead of the incumbent Democrat. But that bump proved fleeting, and Nelson remains the favorite to retain his seat.

There was one sign of encouragement for Republicans in the Times poll, however. Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) held only a six-point lead over Republican challenger Tom Smith — a promising showing against an incumbent considered safe. While a Franklin & Marshall poll also released Wednesday gave Casey a 10-point lead, the Pennsylvania lawmaker's advantage has seen a significant dip from earlier this year. At the beginning of August, the Times gave Casey an 18-point lead, meaning Smith has gained 12 points in the past two months.

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