Oklahoman: Are The Ads Working?
Have negative ads tightened U.S. Senate race?
by Chris Casteel
Oklahomans for a Conservative Future, which has spent more than $1 million in the effort to elect state Rep. T.W. Shannon to the U.S. Senate, said Tuesday that a new poll shows Shannon and U.S. Rep. James Lankford in a dead heat for the Republican nomination.
According to a polling memo released by the group, Lankford, of Oklahoma City, had 39 percent and Shannon had 37 percent in a poll taken June 7 through June 9 of 600 likely Republican primary voters.
The timing of the poll coincided with the negative television ads and postcards begun last week by the group, which does not reveal its donors.
According to the polling memo, five other candidates for the Republican nomination received a combined 6 percent in the race.
A poll conducted May 27 through May 29 by a group backing Lankford, the Foundation for Economic Prosperity, showed Lankford up by 20 percentage points. That poll surveyed 500 likely Republican primary voters.