Pryor hanging tough in Arkansas race, poll finds

Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) has a narrow lead over Rep. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), according to a new poll.

Pryor leads Cotton by 46 percent to 43 percent in a Talk Business Arkansas/Hendrix College poll released on Tuesday.

{mosads}There have been few recent public polls of the race, which has been harder fought than most others and has a lower level of undecided voters. A handful of Republican polls from earlier this year found Cotton in the lead, while a February poll from a Democratic firm found Pryor and Cotton tied.

Republicans are targeting Pryor in hopes of flipping his seat to the GOP column and winning the Senate majority in November.

But Pryor appears to be holding his own in the race, which could turn out to be one of the tightest in the country.

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and Pryor’s campaign both trumpeted the new poll results as a sign the heavy outside spending against the senator hasn’t hurt his reelection hopes.

Millions of dollars have been spent against both Pryor and Cotton, though groups backing Cotton have outspent those backing the Democrat by a three-to-one margin.

“Mark is standing strong even after months of attacks from Congressman Cotton’s billionaire allies intent on distracting Arkansans from his reckless votes to gut Medicare, end affordable student loans and obstruct paycheck fairness for women,” said Pryor spokesman Erik Dorey.

The live-caller poll of 1,068 likely voters was conducted from April 3-4 and had a margin of error of 3 percentage points.