Raleigh, NC – Incumbent US Senator Richard Burr (R) holds a slim one point lead over his potential Democratic counterpart, Attorney General Roy Cooper, in a new poll released today by the Civitas Institute.
According to the survey of 600 likely 2010 voters, Burr leads Cooper 35%-34% with 32 percent of voters undecided.
“This hypothetical matchup remains very close and this month we show Richard Burr taking a one point lead. If Cooper does decide to get in the race, it will be very competitive,” said Francis De Luca, executive director of the Civitas Institute.
Burr’s initial support appears slightly more solid that Cooper’s with 19 percent of voters saying they would “definitely” vote for Richard Burr while only 14 percent of voters would “definitely” vote for Roy Cooper.
Both candidates continue to suffer from relatively low name identification. Nearly half of voters (49.5%) either had no opinion or were not aware of Sen. Burr. Likewise, 64 percent had no opinion or were not aware of Attorney General Cooper.
“This race could potentially be one of the most watched in the nation. However, at this stage, both Burr and Cooper have a long way to go to familiarize themselves with the voters,” added De Luca.
The Civitas Poll is the only monthly live-caller poll of critical issues and policies facing North Carolina.
Full text of questions:
If the election were held today, which one of the following best describes how you are likely to vote in the election for United States Senate between Richard Burr, the republican candidate, and Roy Cooper, the democratic candidate?
Definitely Burr – 19.3%
Probably Burr – 10.7%
Lean Burr – 4.7%
TOTAL BURR – 34.7%
Definitely Cooper – 14.5%
Probably Cooper – 13.8%
Lean Cooper – 5.3%
TOTAL COOPER – 33.7%
UNDECIDED – 31.7%
Now I am going to read you a list of names. Will you please tell me if you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of each person? If you have no opinion or have never heard of the person, just say so.
Richard Burr
Very Favorable – 14%
Somewhat Favorable – 19.2%
TOTAL FAVORABLE – 33.2%
Somewhat Unfavorable – 8.7%
Very Unfavorable – 8.7%
TOTAL UNFAVORABLE – 17.3%
NO OPINION – 38.7%
NEVER HEARD OF – 10.8%
Roy Cooper
Very Favorable – 10.7%
Somewhat Favorable – 17.2%
TOTAL FAVORABLE – 27.8%
Somewhat Unfavorable – 3.8%
Very Unfavorable – 4.3%
TOTAL UNFAVORABLE – 8.2%
NO OPINION – 40.3%
NEVER HEARD OF – 23.7%
Click here for full results and crosstabs.
This poll of 600 likely general election voters in North Carolina was conducted April 21-23, 2009 by McLaughlin and Associates of Alexandria, Virginia. All interviews were conducted via telephone by professional interviewers.
Interview selection was random within predetermined geographic units. These units were structured to correlate with actual voter distributions in a statewide general election.
The poll of 600 likely general election voters has an accuracy of +/- 4.0% at a 95% confidence interval.
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