The national pollster Rasmussen Reports has released a new poll giving Democratic challenger Sheldon Whitehouse an 8-point lead over the incumbent Republican Lincoln Chafee.

Whitehouse leads 50 percent to 42 percent in a telephone survey of 500 likely voters conducted on Oct. 19. The results were announced yesterday. The margin of error is 4.5 percentage points.

In the last Rasmussen poll conducted Oct. 10, Whitehouse led 49 percent to 39 percent.

"With Election Day on the horizon Republican Senator Lincoln Chafee remains highly vulnerable," reads a Rasmussen analysis of the race that accompanies the poll.

A Mason-Dixon poll released yesterday shows Whitehouse leading 48 percent to 43 percent.