Congressman Sam Graves has surged ahead in Missouri's 6th District U.S. House race, according to a poll taken last week by SurveyUSA for KCTV in Kansas City.

Polling done on Wednesday and Thursday showed the Republican incumbent with a 51 to 42 percent lead over Democratic challenger Kay Barnes in the campaign for the Northwest Missouri congressional seat.

The survey had a margin of error of 4 percent.

An identical poll taken seven weeks earlier had Ms. Barnes, a former Kansas City mayor, closing the gap in the race. The more recent result showed Mr. Graves climbing by 3 percent and the Democratic challenger sinking by 2 percent.

In other analysis, SurveyUSA reported:

Compared to a SurveyUSA poll released 4 months ago, in May, the contest is effectively unchanged.

In four months of tracking, among men, Graves has led by 19, 23, and now by 16 points. Among women, the two candidates tied four months ago; 7 weeks ago, Barnes led by 17 points; today, the trend has reversed and Graves leads Barnes by 3.

Barnes today leads among voters age 18 to 34; Graves leads among voters age 35-plus. 


Among voters age 35 to 49, Graves leads by 22 points; among voters 50 to 64, Graves leads by 11; among those 65-plus, Graves leads by 3.

Five percent of Republicans cross over to vote for Democrat Barnes; 14 percent of Democrats cross over to vote for Republican Graves; Independents favor Graves by 16 points.