Arlen Specter Poll: Senator Leads Joe Sestak And Pat Toomey

Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) now leads both his Democratic primary challenger, Rep. Joe Sestak, and Republican Pat Toomey, in a general election match-up, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released Tuesday..

Specter's lead over Sestak stands at 53 to 29 percent, while his lead over Toomey is now 49 to 42 percent. A similar poll in mid-December had Specter and Toomey deadlocked at 44 percent.

"Specter's edge is that he is so much better known than his challengers at this point. Only 11 percent of voters say they don't know enough about him to form an opinion," said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. "Seventy-four percent of voters including 73 percent of Democrats say Sestak is too unfamiliar for them to have an opinion."

According to Brown, Toomey suffers from the same problem, as 65 percent of voters remain unfamiliar with the GOP candidate. Though this is a disadvantage, Toomey will have until the general election in November to rectify the problem, while Sestak will only have until May 18 -- primary day.

The poll surveyed 1,452 Pennsylvania voters, with a 2.6 percentage point margin of error.