TV Ads Help Hagan Close the Gap
Raleigh, N.C. – The race for U.S. Senate has tightened significantly over the past month, according to the latest Civitas Institute polling. Incumbent U.S. Senator Elizabeth Dole’s lead over challenger State Senator Kay Hagan has shrunk from nine points in July to three points in August.
Among the 600 likely general election voters surveyed, 44 percent supported Dole and 41 percent supported Hagan. Chris Cole, the Libertarian candidate, received 4 percent of the support. Eleven percent of the voters were undecided.
“It is obvious the television ads critical of Senator Dole are having an impact on this race,” said Francis DeLuca, Executive Director of the Civitas Institute. “The ads run by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) questioning Senator Dole have been very effective in making this race competitive once again.”
The three point lead for Dole is the smallest margin her campaign has held since the first Civitas poll taken after the May Primary, in which Dole led by two points.
“The ability of Hagan and the DSCC to run ads with no response from Dole has allowed Hagan to figuratively press the ‘reset’ button and wipe out Dole’s lead from the summer” DeLuca concluded.
Previous Civitas poll results:
May – Dole 45, Hagan 43
June – Dole 48, Hagan 38, Cole 1
July – Dole 47, Hagan 38, Cole 2
Click here for full results and crosstabs.
The study of 600 registered voters was conducted August 14-17 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 interviewed had to have voted in either the 2002, 2004 or 2006 general election or have registered 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 it 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.
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If you would like more information regarding this topic, or to schedule an interview with Francis DeLuca, please call Gabe Dellinger at 919.747.8065 or email at Gabe.Dellinger@nccivitas.org.
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