The latest Public Policy Polling survey shows that Weld County’s insurgent conservative and district attorney, Ken Buck, is gaining popularity in his bid to be the Republican Party candidate for U.S. Senate. In the last two months, he has rapidly closed a gap with Jane Norton, a former lieutenant governor, and now trails by just five points (26 percent to Norton’s 31 percent) in the poll.

Both campaigns are taking the results as a boon. “The poll shows what we’ve been seeing on the campaign trail for a long time,” Buck campaign spokesman Owen Loftus tells the Greeley Tribune. “People are tired of insider politics.”

Cinamon Watson, a spokeswoman for Norton’s campaign, says, “It’s great news in light of the fact that Ken Buck and his shady 527s have spent over $1 million attacking Jane Norton, and yet she’s still winning.” The Denver Post chronicles Norton’s latest effort to win the hearts and minds of conservatives: a 629-mile, 11-stop tour of the Eastern Plains, where she has cast Buck as a liberal spender with “shady” links to outside groups.

Meanwhile on the Democratic side of the race, sitting U.S. Senator Michael Bennet’s lead over Andrew Romanoff has grown, 46-31 percent, according to Public Policy Polling. Bennet led just 40-34 percent in the previous poll. “Bennet is doing well across the ideological spectrum, holding double digit leads with liberals, moderates, and conservatives alike,” according to the organization.