Poll shows Berkley up 42-38 over Heller in potential Senate match up

A new poll taken for Rep. Shelley Berkley shows her up 42-38 over Rep. Dean Heller in a potential U.S. Senate race match up.

The result is within the 4-percentage point margin of error for the mid-March survey, which would make it a tight 2012 race to replace retiring Sen. John Ensign.

Berkley's campaign insisted Wednesday that she's still torn about whether to run for the Senate and give up her safe Democratic House seat. She's expected to decide by summer. But there's growing pressure on her to reveal her plans sooner while several Democrats wait in the wings ready to run instead.

Heller, a Republican, announced a couple of weeks ago that he would run to replace Ensign, who decided to retire rather than face a campaign focused on his affair and ethical and legal troubles. Heller was quickly endorsed by the GOP establishment and isn't expecting a competitive primary, leaving him stronger for a general election race.

Heller's camp quickly reacted to the leak of the Berkley poll.

“Politicians don’t release polls showing them ahead and then not run. She’s clearly running for Senate,” said Mike Slanker, who's running the Heller campaign.

A Democratic operative close to Berkley, however, said she really had not made up her mind and was still weighing whether to run for an eighth term in 2012.

"What the poll shows is there's absolutely no doubt she can win," said the operative. "But she is clearly still very torn. She loves the job that she's doing now."

The survey asked a series of questions about various negative and positive aspects of each potential candidate. At the end, both Berkley's and Heller's numbers rose, but the Democrat retained the lead, 46-40. Both Heller and Berkley had higher favorability ratings than unfavorable, a sign of their current popularity.

Berkley's name recognition was slightly higher than Heller's, but both politicians aren't widely known outside of their districts. Berkley represents the 1st Congressional District, mostly in Las Vegas and North Las Vegas. Heller represents the 2nd Congressional District covering all of rural and Northern Nevada and a bit of Clark County.