Council of State Races Wide Open

Democrats Lead – Large Numbers Remain Undecided

Raleigh, N.C. – Nearly one-third of voters are undecided in the races to fill three vacant seats on the Council of State with just six weeks remaining until election day according to a new poll released today by the Civitas Institute.

According to the live telephone survey of 600 likely General Election voters:

Lt. Governor
Walter Dalton (D) – 36
Robert Pittenger (R) – 30
Phillip Rhodes (L) – 4

Treasurer
Janet Cowell (D) – 39
Bill Daughtridge (R) – 31

Commissioner of Insurance
Wayne Goodwin (D) – 37
John Odom (R) – 27
Mark McMains (L) – 3

“While the Democratic candidates currently hold the lead in these three races, over thirty percent of the voters are undecided,” said Francis De Luca, Executive Director of the Civitas Institute. “Few of these candidates are well known enough, even within their own party, to have developed any sort of broad based support.”

“As in the other statewide races the final weeks of campaigning and paid media will likely determine the winners of these races,” concluded De Luca.

Click here Lt. Governor results and crosstabs.
Click here for Treasurer results and crosstabs.
Click here for Commissioner of Insurance results and crosstabs.

The study of 600 registered voters was conducted September 17-20 by Tel Opinion Research of Alexandria, Virginia. All respondents were part of a fully representative sample of registered voters in North Carolina. For purposes of this study, voters we interviewed had to have voted in either the 2002, 2004 or 2006 general election or were newly registered voters since 2006. The voters were interviewed using live callers.

The confidence interval associated with a sample of this size is such that: 95% of the time, results from 600 interviews (registered voters) will be within +-4.2% of the “True Values.” “True Values” refer to the results obtained if were possible to interview every person in North Carolina who had voted in either the 2002, 2004 or 2006 general elections or were newly registered voters since 2006.

The Civitas Poll is the only monthly, live interviewer, poll on issues and politics conducted in North Carolina.

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If you would like more information regarding this topic or to schedule an interview with Francis De Luca, please call Gabe Dellinger at 919.747.8065 or email at Gabe.Dellinger@nccivitas.org.