RICHMOND, Va. - Democratic Senate candidate Jim Webb has nearly erased a commanding lead Republican Sen. George Allen held six weeks ago, according to an independent statewide poll published Sunday.
In its first survey since Allen's now-famous insult to a man of Indian descent a month ago, Mason-Dixon Polling & Research Inc. found 46 percent of those interviewed supported Allen and 42 percent backed Webb. Twelve percent were undecided.
Because the margin of error for the poll is plus or minus 4 percentage points, the race could be seen as about even. Support for an independent candidate, Gail Parker, was not measured in the poll.
The survey found a dramatic narrowing of the 16-point lead Allen held in the same poll conducted in late July, when 48 percent backed Allen, 32 percent preferred Webb and 20 percent were undecided.
Allen, a cowboy-booted former governor and conservative backer of President Bush, has struggled with the president's low popularity all year. Allen's poll support has yet to crest 50 percent in his campaign for a second Senate term.
But Allen's real problems began Aug. 11 when, in comments to a rally of mostly white supporters in rural southwest Virginia, Allen twice referred to a Webb campaign aide, S.R. Sidarth, as "Macaca." The word denotes a genus of monkeys, including macaques, and is considered an ethnic slur in come countries.
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