Donnelly up seven over Mourdock in internal poll

Rep. Joe Donnelly has a 7-point edge over Indiana state Treasurer Richard Mourdock (R) in a new internal poll, a big jump from a 2-point lead he had in his internal polling before Mourdock made controversial remarks about rape and abortion earlier this month.

Donnelly leads Mourdock by 43 to 36 percent, with Libertarian Andrew Horning garnering 9 percent. When Horning is not included, the lead widens to 9 points, at 47 to 38 percent.

Internal polls should always be taken with a grain of salt, and Mourdock released his own internal poll Wednesday morning showing a tied race. The reality is likely somewhere in the middle, with Donnelly up by a smaller margin.

There has been no recent nonpartisan polling of the race, though last Friday, after Mourdock made his remarks last week he put out another poll showing a tied race, while the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee released a poll showing Donnelly with a 7-point lead.

If Donnelly wins in the Republican-leaning state it would be a major blow to Republicans' hopes of taking control of the Senate. They need to win three seats for Senate control if Mitt Romney wins the presidency, and four if President Obama wins reelection.

Donnelly's poll of 600 likely voters was conducted by the Democratic Global Strategy Group from Oct. 28-30 and has a margin of error of 4 percent.

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