Poll: Brown Up 5 Over Challenger Warren

A new poll shows Sen. Scott Brown leading by five points in his bid for re-election.

The statewide Rasmussen survey of 500 likely voters shows Brown taking 49 percent of the vote to Democrat Elizabeth Warren's 44 percent.

Scott Rasmussen's firm conducted the telephone poll Wednesday night, and he said he expects this will be one of the closest Senate races in the country.

"If this is an election about Scott Brown, he'll do pretty well," Rasmussen said. "He's popular in the state — 60 percent favorability. If it's a case of who should control the U.S. Senate, of course in Massachusetts that would work against Scott Brown."

This is the first poll since Brown and Warren sparred over whether employers should be allowed to deny coverage of certain medical services on moral grounds.