Poll: Murphy Trails Fitzpatrick By 14 Points

Rep. Patrick Murphy (D) trails his Republican challenger, former Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick, by 14 points among likely voters in Pennsylvania’s 8th district, according to to an independent poll released Thursday.

Republicans have seized on the surprisingly large gap in what some consider a bellwether district, suggesting the polling is problematic not just for the second-term Congressman in Bucks County, but for vulnerable Democrats across the region.

Fitzpatrick led Murphy 49 percent to 35 percent, with 15 percent undecided, according to a Franklin & Marshall College survey of 379 likely voters taken Sept. 14-19. The survey had a 5-point margin of error. An internal poll released by the Murphy campaign late last month gave the incumbent a 4-point edge.

“After releasing an internal poll two weeks ago showing that his goose is just about cooked, Patrick Murphy is now gasping for air in his uphill fight against Mike Fitzpatrick,” said Greg Blair, spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee. “Voting in lock-step for reckless spending like the failed ‘stimulus’ and the government takeover of health care has its consequences. If you’re Patrick Murphy, those consequences include finding yourself 14 points down to your popular Republican opponent just weeks from Election Day.”

The Murphy campaign, meanwhile, released a statement questioning the credibility of the Franklin & Marshall poll.

“[T]heir polling has been very inaccurate in PA-08 before,” the campaign said in a statement. “When Murphy and Fitzpatrick first faced off in 2006, Franklin and Marshall put Murphy behind by 9 percent (39 percent to 48 percent) on Oct. 23, 2006. Of course, Murphy didn’t lose to Fitzpatrick by 9 percent. He ended up winning the election less than two weeks after that poll was released. The poll’s inaccurate numbers were well beyond the claimed margin of error.”

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