INDIANAPOLIS -- Democratic gubernatorial candidate John Gregg has a double-digit lead over Republican Eric Holcomb in the race for Indiana governor, according to a new poll released Friday by Monmouth University.
The same poll shows GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump's lead over Democrat Hillary Clinton in Indiana is down to four points.
The poll was conducted on Oct. 10-13, surveying more than 400 likely Hoosier voters. The margin of error is 4.9 percentage points. A similar poll conducted by Monmouth University in August showed the governor's race as a virtual tie, with Holcomb actually enjoying a one-point lead. Now, just a month later, Gregg is up 12 points, 50 to 38. Libertarian Rex Bell was favored by 5 percent of the respondents. Seven percent were undecided.
Holcomb got into the race late due to Gov. Mike Pence joining Trump's ticket. Holcomb's campaign called the new poll an "outlier" and "laughably inconsistent." Another recent Indiana poll, conducted by WTHR and Howey Politics Indiana, showed a four-point lead for Gregg. Holcomb's campaign said their internal numbers show he is on a "winning trajectory in this margin-of-error contest."
In the Monmouth poll, the news doesn't get much better for Hoosier Republicans in the other two, big ticket races. In August, Monmouth showed Trump with an 11-point lead in the presidential race. That lead is now down to four points, inside the margin of error, with Trump ahead 45 to 41.
In the race for U.S. Senate, Democrat Evan Bayh holds a six-point lead over Republican Todd Young, 48 to 42. That lead remains virtually unchanged from August's poll which had Bayh up 48 to 41.
Just before the Monmouth poll came out, Young's team released their own, internal poll claiming Young had a 1-point lead, 40 to 39.
The polling for the Monmouth poll was conducted after the video showing Trump making lewd remarks about women became public. Young has said he supports Trump and Monmouth poll-takers asked if that support went too far or didn't go far enough, 50 percent of respondents didn't have an opinion. Compared to Bayh, who is a former Indiana governor and senator, Young still appears to be struggling with name recognition with 54 percent of voters having no opinion of him.
The number of Hoosier voters who view Trump unfavorably now sits at 58 percent. Clinton's unfavorable percentage is at 59. The poll also showed a decrease in the number of voters satisfied with the job Pence is doing as Indiana's governor, although more are still satisfied than not. Forty-seven percent approve of the job Pence is doing, while 44 percent disapprove. Those numbers were 54 percent approve and 35 percent disapprove in August.