Fox News polls: Tough battle for Senate in four states

The campaign for control of the U.S. Senate continues to be tight, according to a new batch of polls from Fox News conducted in four states.

In Kansas, Republican Sen. Pat Roberts has a slim edge over independent candidate Greg Orman, 40 percent to 38 percent — plus 11 percent for Democratic nominee Chad Taylor, who is currently in a legal fight with Secretary of State Kris Kobach (R) to get his own name taken off the ballot, and 2 percent for Libertarian candidate Randall Batson.

If Taylor ultimately succeeds in his litigation — as appears somewhat probable from yesterday's oral arguments — this could work out nicely for Orman: In a two-way race Orman would pull ahead of Roberts, 48 percent to 42 percent.

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In Iowa, where Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin is retiring, Democratic Rep. Bruce Braley and Republican state Joni Ernst are in a tie, at 41 percent each.

In Louisiana — which is actually having its top-two primary in November — this is the one poll to show a clear advantage for a Republican challenger: GOP Rep. Bill Cassidy is ahead of incumbent Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu, 35 percent to 31 percent, plus 7 percent for another Republican Rob Maness, and 2 percent for Libertarian Brannon McMorris.

In a two-way race between Cassidy and Landrieu — which would be the likely runoff election in December, should no candidate get over 50 percent of the vote in November — Cassidy's lead over Landrieu grows to a whopping 13 points, 51 percent to 38 percent.

In North Carolina, Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan leads state House Speaker Thom Tillis, 41 percent to 36 percent, plus 6 percent for Libertarian candidate Sean Haugh.

The poll were conducted by a partnership of Democratic pollster Anderson Robbins Research and Republican pollster Shaw & Co. Research. For each state, a survey of likely voters was conducted Sept. 14 to 16, and they each have a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.