The presidential race is heating up, but so is the race for the U.S. Senate seat in Virginia.
Former Virginia governors Republican George Allen and Democrat Tim Kaine are both vying for the seat, yet both are failing to distance themselves from the other.
New poll results from Quinnipiac University reveal that while Allen holds a slight 46-44 percent lead, he has not managed to secure a lead outside of the statistical margin of error of +/- 2.4 percent, thus making the race, statistically, a dead heat.
Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, called the race a “dog fight” and said “every indication is it will remain that way until November 6.”
The poll also revealed that for the first time Mitt Romney has caught up to President Barack Obama in Virginia, but this has had no effect on the Senate race -- 61 percent of Virginia voters said that their Senate vote will remain independent of their presidential vote.
As expected, Republicans back Allen 92-4 percent, while Democrats back Kaine 87-5 percent.
Independent voters are evenly split, 44 percent for Kaine and 42 percent for Allen.
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Both Allen and Kaine have similar favorability ratings -- 43-28 percent for Allen and 43-34 for Kaine.
The survey was conducted from July 10-16 and surveyed 1,673 registered voters via land lines and cell phones. The margin of error was +/- 2.4 percent. Read more about the survey here.
