LAS VEGAS (KLAS) -- In the weeks leading up to Election Day, Republican challenger Sam Brown has chopped the lead in half, closing rapidly on U.S. Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) in their U.S. Senate race.
An Oct. 10 poll by Emerson College Polling/The Hill/8 News Now showed Rosen with more than half the vote -- 50.4% -- while Brown trailed at 41.7%. But three weeks later, a poll released on Nov. 1 shows that has changed dramatically, making the race one of the most interesting contests to watch as results come in Tuesday night.
The contest between Brown and Rosen could decide which party holds the majority in the U.S. Senate.
The margin has tightened, with Rosen holding onto 48.6% to 44.9% lead over Republican challenger Sam Brown. Another 4.2% remain undecided. The new Emerson/RealClearWorld poll surveyed 700 Nevada voters who said they were likely to vote. The earlier poll surveyed 900 voters. The poll's margin of error was plus-or-minus 3.2 percentage points.
Independent voters are split, with 47% for Rosen and 46% for Brown. Hispanic voters favor Rosen, 58% to 35%, while white voters support Brown, 51% to 44%, according to the poll.
At an Oct. 17 debate on 8 News Now, the candidates went head-to-head over the most contentious issue in the campaign: Brown's position on a national abortion ban. Rosen's campaign has worked relentlessly to pin Brown's record on abortion to his Senate candidacy, but Brown has changed his position. Rosen will not acknowledge that change. When they were on stage in our studios, here's how the exchange played out after Brown was asked if he would support a national abortion ban:
BROWN: Look, I've been clear, and let me just state this up front: I would not vote for any national ban. However, this is a very, very personal issue for so many people, for so many women and families and I come at this as someone who is informed by my wife's experience. Unfortunately, she had a unexpected pregnancy and a traumatic situation that ended with an abortion and it was very traumatic for her. And what she told me as she was recovering from that was that she wishes that she had more support. I think this partisan issue needs to be, we need to refocus on supporting women. I also stand by Nevada's law that allows for abortion up to 24 weeks. I stand by and allow, that we should allow for women to have exceptions for rape, incest and threat to the life of the mother. Nevadans have made our law clear 34 years ago. I stand by that law and I would not vote for a national abortion ban.
8 NEWS NOW: Ms. Rosen, with one minute here, are there any limits on abortion you would support?
ROSEN: I support restoring Roe v. Wade and I support Question 6, which my opponent says he will not support. He says he's a no, he says his positions are not negotiable for him. He has a decade-long record of saying that he's against any exceptions on abortion, even in the case of rape or incest. Not negotiable. Women are dying. One-third of American women don't have access to care and you can see in city after city in this country, women are being turned away from emergency rooms or dying in hospitals. This is fundamentally about freedom and I will tell you that complications late in pregnancy, they are tragic, they are horrific, and they are rare. And I will also tell you that a doctor's office and a hospital room or an emergency room is too small a place for a woman, her family and her doctor to have a politician like Sam Brown, Mitch McConnell or anyone else sitting in there telling them what they can and can't do. Watching them potentially die like they did in Georgia.
BROWN: I would not do that.
ROSEN: Too crowded, and if you don't believe that he would support a nationwide abortion ban, then I've got some oceanfront property to sell you on the Las Vegas Strip.
8 NEWS NOW: Mr. Brown, let's give you 15 seconds to go on the record here to respond to what she's saying.
BROWN: Thank you, it's sad that I have to go on the record again and again because of the deceptions of Senator Rosen.
ROSEN: This is his decade-long issue.
8 NEWS NOW: Ms. Rosen this is his time.
BROWN: This is a serious issue. This should not be a hyper-partisan issue. We are talking about the lives of women. I have been clear that I would not support a national abortion ban. I don't appreciate -- and I don't think the voters of Nevada appreciate -- when people lead with deception on this issue. We need to lead with empathy and care.