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Poll: Race Tightens, But Wolf Keeps Lead

AP Photo/Matt Rourke
In this combination of 2014 photos Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidates Democrat Tom Wolf, left, and Republican Gov. Tom Corbett are shown in Philadelphia.

A new poll shows Governor Corbett has made gains in his race for re-election, but Democratic hopeful Tom Wolf maintains a double-digit lead among registered and likely voters surveyed.

The York County cabinet magnate is 13 points ahead of Governor Corbett among self-reported likely voters in the Franklin & Marshall College poll. It’s a narrowing lead, and it reflects the work Corbett has done to appeal to his base. 63 percent of surveyed Republicans say Corbett deserves re-election, up from 39 percent in August.

Poll Director Terry Madonna said Corbett’s focus on his opponent’s patchy tax plans has helped the Republican begin to catch up.

“It’s that issue as well as the campaign toughness, resilience, more on-target, that has made a big difference in terms of the race,” Madonna said.

Corbett’s approval rating among respondents remains lower than it was for former Governors Ed Rendell and Tom Ridge at similar points in their terms.

The survey of 738 registered voters was taken over the past week and has a margin of error of plus or minus three-point-four percentage points.

Mary Wilson is the state Capitol reporter for Pennsylvania's public radio stations, including witf in Harrisburg, WHYY in Philadelphia and WESA in Pittsburgh. Mary came to witf after a year being a catch-all staffer for a Maryland politician. Partisanship was a drag, but other things stuck: she has great empathy for those who have spent hours folding sample ballots and building campaign signs. Before that, she was a part-time show host and cub reporter at WFUV-FM in New York City. She covered the closing of the old Yankee stadium and narrated the scene of Harlem on the night of the 2008 presidential election. Mary graduated from Fordham University in the Bronx with majors in history and Italian.
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