U.S. Sen. George Allen's Democratic opponent has closed the gap in the race, reflecting two difficult weeks for the first-term Republican battling claims of racial insensitivity, according to a poll released Friday night.Allen and Jim Webb each had the support of 43 percent of the respondents, according to the MSNBC/McClatchy Poll conducted by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research Inc.
Twelve percent were undecided and 2 percent backed independent candidate Gail Parker.
Allen, who was positioning himself for a 2008 presidential race as he sought re-election, led Webb by 16 percentage points in a Mason-Dixon poll two months ago.Allen saw his support in drop in the polls since he singled out a 20-year-old Webb campaign volunteer of Indian descent at a nearly all-white rally on Aug. 11 and called him "Macaca," a word considered a racial slur in some cultures.
The latest poll was conducted amid new, widely publicized claims by Allen's former University of Virginia football teammates that, in the early 1970s, Allen often used a racial epithet commonly applied to black people.
Allen said in a Friday night interview on the Fox News Network that Webb and his Democratic allies were fanning the issues to confuse voters.
"The Democrats know that if they can get off on detours and distractions that avoids talking about ideas, issues and the record of performance," he said.
Webb campaign strategist Steve Jarding said the poll shows Allen is in a tailspin.
