WASHINGTON -- A Democratic poll released Wednesday showed Democrat Rep. Rick Nolan leading his GOP challenger Stewart Mills by 11 points, and Green Party candidate Ray "Skip" Sandman garnering 7 percent.

The poll, paid for by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, was a survey of 405 likely voters in the Eighth Congressional District from Sept. 25-28. The survey's margin of error is plus or minus 4.9 percent.

Of those polled, 48 percent said they favored Nolan and 37 percent supported Mills. Nine percent of those polled were still undecided, according to the survey by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner.

The same tracking survey in July showed Nolan leading Mills by only two points, 43 to 41. At that time, Sandman was at 6 percent and 10 percent of voters were undecided.

"Nolan still has work to do, but he has withstood thousands of points of attack ads well," the pollster said in the memo.

Minnesota's 8th is considered among the state's hottest, with more than $2 million already pouring in from independent groups. Most political forecasters still dub it a "toss-up."

In campaign finance reports filed over the summer, Nolan had outraised Mills and had $624,000 on hand to the challenger's $356,617.

Fresh third-quarter reports will be released by Oct. 15.