Rasmussen Again Shows Obama, Heinrich Ahead in NM

The Rasmussen poll has a reputation of leaning Republican. But you wouldn't know that from their polls in New Mexico this year.

The company's latest poll in the Senate race, released today, shows Democrat Martin Heinrich leading Republican Heather Wilson by a seven-percentage point margin, 48 percent to 41 percent. Five percent back "other candidates" -- perhaps Independent American Jon Barrie or write-in Bob Anderson -- while seven percent were undecided.

In the presidential contest, President Obama has the support of 52 percent, Rasmussen said, while Mitt Romney, who spoke in Hobbs, N.M. today, was 14 percentage points behind at 38 percent. "Other candidates" (Gary Johnson, anyone?) got 9 percent in the poll, while a measly one percent said they were undecided.

Rasmussen has better numbers for Obama and Heinrich than the latest Public Policy Polling surveys in New Mexico. PPP, a Democratic aligned pollster, had both Heinrich and Obama ahead by just five percentage points in mid July.

In this recent poll, Rasmussen interviewed 500 likely voters on Tuesday. The margin of error is 4.5 percent.