Indian American Piyush 'Bobby' Jindal, 32, the Republican candidate for governorship of Louisiana, has for the first time lost his lead in an opinion poll.

Jindal for Governor: The Complete Coverage

A state-wide poll, released on Monday by the Southeastern Louisiana University, showed that Democrat Kathleen Blanco was favoured by 41.4 per cent of the 705 registered voters polled between October 28 and November 5; Jindal was the choice of 40.1 per cent; another 18.5 per cent refused to answer.

The poll had an error margin of plus or minus 4 percentage points, the university said.

The SLU said that after factoring in undecided "leaners", Blanco had 45.1 per cent votes while Jindal had 42.9 per cent.