BOSTON (Reuters) - Republican businessman Charlie Baker has pulled even with Democratic state Attorney General Martha Coakley in the race to be the next governor of Massachusetts, a series of new polls showed.
Coakley, who would be the first woman elected governor of Massachusetts, is in a statistical tie with Baker, according to a WBUR/Mass Inc poll released on Wednesday that was the third this week to show the two closely matched.
Forty-four percent of 503 likely voters polled by WBUR/Mass Inc Sept. 24-27 backed Coakley, compared with 41 percent who planned to vote for Baker, a gap within the survey's 4.4 percentage point margin of error.
It followed recent polls by Western New England University and the Boson Globe showing Baker with a narrow lead, also within those polls' margins of error.
While Massachusetts has a reputation for liberal politics, its current governor, Deval Patrick, is the sole Democrat to have held that role in two decades. His predecessor, Mitt Romney, was the 2012 Republican presidential nominee.
"There are a lot more Democrats in the state than there are Republicans, but the Republicans are more reliable voters than Democrats," said Jeffrey Berry, professor of political science at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts.
Part of Coakley's challenge will be encouraging more low-income voters to go the polls, Berry said, noting that her pledges to increase access to free pre-kindergarten classes across the state and her approval of a ballot initiative that would require employers to offer paid sick time to low-wage and part-time workers could help with that constituency.
Baker, the former chief executive of a large New England health insurer, has focused his campaigning on moderate voters, pledging to strengthen the state's already healthy economy and improve schools.
He is in his second run for governor, having challenged Patrick in 2010.
Patrick has opted not to seek a third term in office.
Coakley has been the state's top prosecutor since 2007 and in 2010 ran an unsuccessful campaign for U.S. Senate against Scott Brown, then a little-known Republican state legislator.
Brown, who was defeated in his 2012 re-election bid, is currently running for U.S. Senate in neighboring New Hampshire.
(Reporting by Scott Malone; Editing by Doina Chiacu)