Most Polls Now Show Brown Leading Coakley

Four of the five latest polls, all completed Sunday, show Republican Scott Brown leading Democrat Martha Coakley in today’s election for the open Massachusetts Senate seat.

In the fifth poll, the two are tied. State Senator Brown’s lead in the polls showing him ahead ranges from five to 10 percentage points, according to RealClearPolitics.com.

A poll by PJM/Cross Target, a Republican affiliated polling firm, gives Brown a 10 point lead. A poll by Politico/InAdv shows Brown with a nine point lead. A poll by American Research Group gives Brown a seven point lead. And a tally by Democratic affiliated Public Policy Polling has Brown with a five point lead.

The tie reading comes in a poll from Daily Kos/Research 2000.

Brown and Coakley, the state’s attorney general, are fighting for the seat opened by Ted Kennedy’s death last year.

Coakley had big double-digit leads in polls last year. But she has run a lackluster campaign, and Brown has benefited from public dissatisfaction with the Democrats’ healthcare reform effort and President Obama’s economic policies.

The election could play a key role in whether healthcare reform passes, because Coakley would represent the 60th vote that Democrats need to stanch a Republican filibuster against the bill.

The New York Times reports that Democratic congressional leaders are hurriedly making plans for how to bypass a healthcare filibuster should Coakley lose.