(WHTM) - With less than a year until voters cast their ballots, a new poll shows Democrat Bob Casey extending an early lead over Republican Dave McCormick in Pennsylvania's U.S. Senate race.
The Quinnipiac University Poll released on Wednesday shows Casey with a 53-43 percent lead over McCormick.
In October Quinnipiac showed Casey with a six point lead over McCormick, the only Republican currently running in the closely watched 2024 election.
McCormick, a former hedge fund CEO, entered the race last year after falling short of the 2022 Republican nomination for U.S. Senate. In a crowded May 2022 primary McCormick lost to Dr. Mehmet Oz by less than 1,000 votes.
Casey also leads McCormick in all age demographics except 50-64 where they're tied at 48%. McCormick leads among male voters with 55%, but Casey leads among women (58%), white voters (50%), and black voters (88%).
"A big infusion of Indie support makes one of the most closely watched Senate races in 2024 a not so tight race," said Quinnipiac University Polling Analyst Tim Malloy with 55% of independents surveyed backing Casey.
The poll also found the three-term Senator Casey with a 51% approval rating, while his Senate counterpart John Fetterman received a 45% approval rating.
Twenty-six percent of voters said "they think more favorably of Senator John Fetterman for expressing strong support for Israel," said Quinnipiac, while 14% said they thought less favorably of the freshman Senator.
The top concerns for Pennsylvania voters were preserving democracy (24%), border security (23%), and the economy (15%). Republicans overwhelmingly cited border security as their top issue (46%) with the economy receiving 25%.
Democrats cited preserving democracy as their top issue at 44%.
A third of voters said the nation's economy is either excellent or good while 66% said it was either not so good or poor.
In the Republican primary for President, 61% said they plan to vote for Donald Trump, followed by 14% for Nikki Haley, 10% for Ron DeSantis, 6% for Chris Christie, and 4% for Vivek Ramaswamy.
President Biden had a 41% approval rating and Donald Trump came in at 38%. In a primary election the poll found Biden leading 49% to 46%.