Raleigh, N.C. – US Senator Richard Burr has taken a commanding 20 percentage point lead over Democratic opponent Elaine Marshall, according to a new National Research, Inc. poll released today by the Civitas Institute.
According to the poll of 600 likely voters, 49 percent of voters said they would vote for Richard Burr if the election for US Senate were held today. Twenty-nine percent of voters said they would vote for Marshall, and 17 percent said they are undecided.
Furthermore, unaffiliated voters are in support of Burr by a 48 percent-21 percent margin.
“Marshall has been virtually non-existent in the media throughout the course of this election cycle,” said Civitas Institute Senior Legislative Analyst Chris Hayes. “Burr’s dominance of the television airwaves has allowed him to expand his lead.”
Despite Marshall serving as North Carolina Secretary of State and state Senator, she remains relatively unfamiliar to voters, including among her Democratic base. Currently, just 51 percent of Democratic voters support Marshall. Conversely, Republican voters are backing Burr by a 79 percent-3 percent margin. Burr also leads among unaffiliated voters 48-21.
“Marshall remains relatively unknown to the voters, even voters of her own party. This spells deep trouble for her,” added Hayes. “If she does not answer Burr on television soon, this race will quickly be over.”
The Civitas Poll is the only monthly live-caller poll of critical issues facing North Carolina. For more information on Civitas polling see www.nccivitas.org/media/poll-results/.
Full Text of Questions:
“If the election for United States Senate were held today, for whom would you vote between: Richard Burr, the Republican; Elaine Marshall, the Democrat; or Mike Beitler, the Libertarian?”
Burr – 49%
Marshall – 29%
Beitler – 3%
Lean/Undecided – 17%
For full results and crosstabs from the poll, click here.
This poll of 600 likely general election voters in North Carolina was conducted September 15-17, 2010 by National Research, Inc. of Holmdel, NJ. 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 two of the past four general elections or were newly registered to vote since 2008. An additional screening question was asked to filter only those voters having some likelihood to vote in the upcoming 2010 election.
The confidence interval associated with a sample of this size is such that: 95 percent of the time, results from 600 interviews (registered voters) will be within +/- 4% 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 two of the past four general elections or were newly registered to vote since 2008.
###
Leave a Comment