The latest poll in Nebraska's closer-than-expected U.S. Senate race between Republican Sen. Deb Fischer and her independent challenger Dan Osborn shows Osborn leading the two-term incumbent by 2 points, his campaign said Wednesday.
The survey of 815 likely voters showed the U.S. Navy veteran and industrial mechanic leading Fischer, a former state lawmaker and school board member, 48% to 46%. The poll's margin of error is 3.6%.
Osborn's campaign funded the poll and did not release the survey's raw results Tuesday but said the poll showed Osborn winning support "across political parties," consolidating Democratic support and winning nearly 70% of nonpartisan voters, who make up in Nebraska.
The poll also suggested Fischer, who is seeking her third term in the Senate, is struggling to shore up Republican support, winning 80% of GOP voters in the survey.
Former President Donald Trump won the support of 94% of Republicans in the same poll, , a startup political news outlet that Osborn's campaign shared the poll's full results with.
In Nebraska's statewide primary in May, Fischer won more votes than any other candidate on the ballot, including Trump, who won more than 58% of the vote in Nebraska in 2020.
Trump has endorsed Fischer and called Osborn “a Democrat in disguise" shot from inside Trump's private plane.
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In a statement, a spokesman for Fischer's campaign said as "nonpartisan analysts have pointed out, the quality of Mr. Osborn’s polling is quite poor."
"We remain confident that support for Sen. Fischer continues to increase, especially as Nebraskans learn more about Mr. Osborn’s plan to give amnesty and Social Security to illegal immigrants, his support for no-limits abortion and gun control, and his love of Bernie Sanders-style socialism," the spokesman said.
Osborn's campaign has disputed he supports amnesty and Social Security for illegal immigrants and has called attempts to link him to Sanders, a U.S. senator from Vermont, "dishonest." In an interview this month, Osborn said "nobody believes in abortion up to nine months."
Wednesday's poll marks that have shown Osborn within striking distance — if not leading — Fischer, who has acknowledged she is in a closer race than she expected to be but has maintained that she expects to prevail in November.
Polls paid for by Osborn's campaign this month have consistently shown him leading Fischer by 2% to 6%, while a pair of Fischer-funded polls have indicated she is leading by as much as 7%.
The polling analysis website 538 Senate race in the country.
An upset win for Osborn could prevent Republicans from capturing a majority in the Senate, where the GOP, now at a two-seat disadvantage in the body, is expected to flip Democratic seats in West Virginia and Montana. There are also competitive Senate races in a handful of other states, including Wisconsin and Ohio.
Osborn is trying to become the first non-Republican elected to the Senate in Nebraska since 2006.
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Nebraska Sen. Deb Fischer listens to questions during a UNL College Republicans meeting on Oct. 9 at the UNL Union. Fischer, a Republican and former state lawmaker, is seeking her third term in the U.S. Senate.