Polls: GOP looks likely to keep Senate control

Governor races
Three of these states also have a contest for governor:

In Pennsylvania, Democrat Gov. Ed Rendell still has a large lead in a race against Republican Lynn Swann, 56 percent to 38 percent, with 6 percent undecided.  Last month, he led 56-35.

In Rhode Island, incumbent Republican Gov. Donald Carcieri still leads Democrat Charlie Fogarty 50 percent to 42 percent, with 8 percent undecided. A month ago, Carcieri led 49 percent to 39 percent.

In Ohio, Democrat Ted Strickland has a significant lead over Republican Ken Blackwell by a 56 percent to 37 percent margin with 6 percent undecided.  Last month Strickland led 54 percent-34 percent.

In Arizona, Democrat Gov. Janet Napolitano leads Republican challenger Len Munsil (61 percent-33 percent).

In Maryland, Republican Gov. Robert Ehrlich is tied with his Democratic opponent, Martin O’Malley (45 percent-45 percent).  There are 9 percent still undecided.

In Tennessee, Democratic Gov. Phil Bredesen is well ahead of Republican challenger Jim Bryson (61 percent-26 percent).  There are 9 percent undecided.

In Michigan, Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm is ahead of Republican Dick DeVos by 14 percentage points (52 percent-38 percent).  There are 8 percent still undecided.

Methodology
These polls were conducted by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research, Inc. of Washington, D.C. from:

• October 31^st  through November 2^nd in Arizona, Michigan, Montana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Washington.
• November 1^st through November 3^rd in Maryland, Missouri, Tennessee, Virginia, and New Jersey.

A total of 625 likely voters in each state were interviewed by telephone.  Those interviewed were selected by the random variation of the last four digits of telephone numbers.

A cross-section of exchanges were utilized in order to ensure an accurate reflection of the state. Quotas were assigned to reflect voter turnout by county. The margin for error, according to standards customarily used by statisticians, is no more than plus or minus 4 percentage points in each poll. This means that there is a 95 percent probability that the "true" figure would fall within that range if the entire population were sampled. The margin for error is higher for any subgroup, such as a gender or regional grouping.