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Washington (CNN) -- Democrats aiming to keep the Senate are facing tough odds in next week's election with their chances depending on convincing a surge of women and African-Americans to vote.

Both sets of voters will be vital in two of the crucial races in North Carolina and Iowa which new CNN polls show are headed for photo-finishes with only three days of campaigning left.

Republicans are especially bullish in Iowa, where their candidate, Iraq war veteran Joni Ernst, leads Bruce Braley by 49% to 47% for a Senate seat Democrats have held for nearly 30 years. Braley leads among women voters by 12 points in the CNN/ORC International survey but Ernst does three points better than that among men and also dominates the potentially decisive bloc of rural voters.

In North Carolina, home of the most expensive midterm race in history, Sen. Kay Hagan leads by two points and enjoys a slim gender gap. Her advantage comes after she spent much of this election cycle slamming Republican foe Thom Tillis over his attitude to equal pay legislation.

READ: Battle for Congress hits final stretch

The GOP has a solid grip on the House but Republicans need a net gain of six seats to grab the Senate for the first time in nearly a decade. They're expected to easily win South Dakota, Montana and West Virginia to bring them to the cusp of victory on Tuesday.

Other battlegrounds are in Alaska, Arkansas, Louisiana, New Hampshire and Colorado, making the outcome of the election too close to call.

And Republicans have to watch a few seats of their own. Democrat Michelle Nunn is surprisingly strong in Georgia and Republican Sen. Pat Roberts is struggling to put away an independent challenger in Kansas.

Election day might be Tuesday, but more 14.8 million Americans have voted already, casting early, absentee and mailed-in ballots, according to Dr. Michael McDonald of the United States Elections Project.

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Democrats hope turnout will save Senate