BY SARAH ROSS

PORTLAND- The latest Rasmussen poll regarding Oregon’s race for U.S. Senate released Wednesday showed a large lead for Democratic incumbent Senator Ron Wyden.

Sen. Wyden showed strength with 51 percent of support among respondents, while Republican candidate Jim Huffman drew support from 38 percent of respondents.

This poll showed an increase of support for both Wyden and Huffman from the last poll on the race which came out in February. February’s poll numbers were 49 percent for Wyden and 35 percent for Huffman.

Wednesday’s poll had 4 percent of respondents favoring another candidate and 7 percent still undecided. Rasmussen polled 500 likely voters for this poll and had a 4.5 percent margin of error.

According to the article Rasmussen released with the poll, incumbent candidates with less that 50 percent of support at this time before the election are considered politically vulnerable, which is good news for Oregon’s senior Senator.

Sen. Wyden was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1996 and was reelected with 63 percent of the vote in 2004.