CNN Poll: Key Arkansas Senate race a dead heat

Washington (CNN) - Rep. Tom Cotton has a 2-point advantage over Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor in a new CNN/ORC International poll of the political knife fight for the U.S. Senate seat in Arkansas.

Cotton's 49%-47% edge over the incumbent falls well within the survey's 4.5% margin of error, essentially making this race, which will help determine who controls the Senate, a dead heat two months before Election Day.

There is no sugarcoating the bitterness between the two candidates in this high-profile contest. Pryor's campaign released an ad accusing the Republican Cotton of voting against legislation that would help prepare the U.S. for a pandemic situation such as the Ebola virus, while Cotton has charged that Pryor is soft on illegal immigration.

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