U.S. Senate candidate Todd Akin, R-Wildwood, now lags behind Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Columbia, 50 percent to 41 percent in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch/News 4 poll, released this weekend. The same type of poll, also conducted by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research Inc., in late July, showed Akin leading the fourth-generation Missourian McCaskill by 5 points.

Akin's declining support is especially prominent among women. Polls earlier this year indicated females were about evenly split between Akin and McCaskill, but women now oppose Akin by a reported nearly 20 percentage points. Even in rural areas where Akin still leads in polling, his support has dropped significantly from a month ago, according to the Post-Dispatch article.

Not all women oppose Akin, however. Lucy McMillion, a Ballwin resident who attended Friday's media conference to stand beside Akin in his confirmation about staying in the campaign until November, said the conversations should return to the more important topics of jobs and the economy. "Mr. Akin is a hundred times better than Claire McCaskill," she said. See video that accompanies this article.

The Akin campaign staff continues to raise funds "to defeat President Obama, defeat Claire McCaskill, and take back the U.S. Senate," as declared on the Todd Akin for U.S Senate website. First, the Akin camp raised $100,000 in 48 hours. Next they raised another $125,000. Now, on a third wave of current fundraising, they are asking to meet the goal of an additional $212,000 for their "2012 victory drive."

Over the weekend, Akin's fundraising site indicated they wanted to identify 500 new online supporters by Sunday midnight. As of the time of publishing this article on Monday morning, the online indicator displayed less than 250 new supporters.

Akin has until Sept. 25 to file a legal petition to end his bid and remove his name from the ballot. The GOP state central committee would be responsible for choosing a replacement nominee, several sources report. If Akin does not end his bid by Sept. 25, his name is guaranteed to appear on the ballot in November.

Editor's Note:  The latest Mason-Dixon poll of 625 likely Missouri voters was conducted on Aug. 22 and 23 and has a margin of error of +/- 4.0 percentage points.