Senate polls: Independent ahead in Kansas, tight races in Iowa and North Carolina

The race for the Senate continues to be up in the air, according to a new round of NBC News/Marist polls.

In Kansas, independent candidate Greg Orman has a very strong lead over Republican Sen. Pat Roberts, 48 percent to 38 percent. The big question in this race is which party caucus Orman would join in the Senate, if it were to turn out that his vote could determine control of the chamber itself.

In Iowa, in the race for the seat of retiring Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin, Republican state Sen. Joni Ernst has a narrow edge over Democratic Rep. Bruce Braley, 46 percent to 44 percent.

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And in North Carolina, Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan is maintaining a slight lead over Republican state House Speaker Thom Tillis, 44 percent to 40 percent, along with 7 percent for Libertarian nominee Sean Haugh.

All three polls were conducted from Sept. 27 to Oct. 1. The margins of error among likely voters are: plus or minus 3.9 percentage points for the Kansas poll; 3.5 percentage points in the Iowa poll; and 3.8 percentage points for the North Carolina poll.