Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) led Elizabeth Warren in a head-to-head Senate matchup by 9 points, according to a private poll taken earlier this month and obtained by Roll Call. The survey had Warren garnering 43 percent and Brown taking 52 percent.

Recent public polling of registered voters had Brown up by an identical 9-point margin. Recent public polling of likely Bay State voters had Warren with a slight edge in a horse race matchup.

The poll was conducted by Opinion Dynamics Corp. Interviewers asked those polled to think forward to November. “[I]f the candidates were Republican Scott Brown and Democrat Elizabeth Warren, for whom would you vote?” they asked. Forty-two percent said Warren; 1 percent leaned toward voting for Warren; and 52 percent said they would vote for Brown.

“At this point people like Scott Brown and they don’t know Elizabeth Warren,” Massachusetts Democratic consultant Scott Ferson said. He said she had been focusing on talking to the liberal base and raising money. “I think she’s playing the inside game now and she’s smart to play that,” he said. Ferson expected her popularity and numbers to increase as she broadened her campaign.

Brown and Warren have been locked in a high-profile and contentious debate in recent weeks over Brown’s support for the controversial contraceptive care amendment authored by Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.). It’s unclear how that debate has affected the race.

Roll Call rates the Massachusetts Senate race as a Tossup.