New poll shows Gregg with big lead over Holcomb

A new poll by Monmouth University conducted this week says Democrat John Gregg has built a whopping 12-point lead over Republican Eric Holcomb in the race for governor.

The poll also found Republican Donald Trump with a 4-point lead in Indiana over Democrat Hillary Clinton in the race for president and Democrat Evan Bayh with a 6-point lead over Republican Todd Young in the U.S. Senate contest.

The poll of 402 likely voters was conducted Tuesday through Thursday and has a margin of error of 4.9 percent.

The findings show Gregg leading 50 percent to 38 percent; Bayh ahead 48 percent to 42 percent; and Trump up 45 percent to 41 percent.

The poll results for the gubernatorial and Senate races vary widely from a WTHR/Howey Politics Indiana poll performed just last week and released Oct. 6 that found Gregg with only a 2-point lead and Bayh and Young in a virtual tie.

Holcomb campaign manager Mike O'Brien issued a statement Friday questioning the Monmouth results.

"This poll is a complete outlier and laughably inconsistent with every other public poll released this election season,” he said. “Our internal data shows we are on a winning trajectory in this margin-of-error contest. After only 12 weeks on the campaign trail, compared to our opponent's 282-week campaign, we are in the passing lane headed into the home stretch of this race and remain confident that Lt. Governor Eric Holcomb will be Indiana's next governor."

Monmouth said it had the governor’s race in a virtual tie two months ago and gave no explanation for the huge shift.

Trump’s lead has eroded from 11 points in mid-August amid rising allegations of sexual misconduct.

Only 31 percent of those polled this week had a favorable opinion of Trump, but that still was better than Clinton’s 30 percent favorability rating.

Trump’s running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, has seen his approval rating dip to 47 percent, down from 54 percent two months ago, the poll said.