The new survey of the North Carolina Senate race by Public Policy Polling (D) shows Republican Sen. Richard Burr in a close race against Democratic Secretary of State Elaine Marshall, with very high undecideds and both candidates remaining heavily unknown.
The numbers: Burr 38%, Marshall 33%, and Libertarian candidate Michael Beitler at 10%, with a whopping 20% undecided. The survey of registered voters has a ±4.4% margin of error. In the previous poll from a month ago, which did not include Beitler and was also conducted during the Democratic primary runoff campaign, Burr led Marshall by 46%-39%. In a three-way match-up, the TPM Poll Average gives Burr 44.0%, Marshall 36.5%, and Beitler 8.0%.
PPP’s Tom Jensen writes: “Burr’s relatively anonymity for an incumbent Senator can be seen in his approval numbers. 28% of voters still have no opinion of him, with those who do splitting negatively. 34% like the job he’s doing while 39% disapprove. Marshall is still pretty unknown too despite 14 years in statewide office and a recently completed campaign to secure her party’s nomination. 58% of voters have no opinion about her with 22% seeing her favorably and 20% unfavorably. “
Eric Kleefeld
Eric Kleefeld joined TPM as an intern for the final months of the 2006 midterm elections, and then kept showing up for work. His other interests include guitars, old comic books and the politics of various English-speaking countries.
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