A new poll shows the Democratic Senate candidates in a dead heat.

SurveyUSA's latest polls shows state Sen. Kay Hagan and Jim Neal virtually tied in the race for the Democratic nomination to challenge Republican Sen. Elizabeth Dole.

Hagan and Neal are essentially tied, with her receiving 21 percent support and him 20 percent. Lesser-known candidates Duskin Lassiter, Marcus Williams and Howard Staley trail with six percent, five percent and four percent, respectively.

Forty-five percent of voters were undecided.

The poll of 725 likely voters was conducted April 5-7. The margin of error was plus or minus 3.7 percent.

Kay Hagan continues to lead the pack in the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate, according to the results of the latest survey by Public Policy Polling.

PPP surveyed 1,100 likely Democratic primary voters on March 29-30. It found that Hagan, a state senator from Greensboro, was the choice of 19 percent of those surveyed. Jim Neal, a Chapel Hill linvestment banker, was the favorite of 11 percent.

The margin of error was plus or minus 3.0 percentage points.

Marcus Williams, a lawyer from Lumberton, was the choice of 6 percent. Duskin Lassiter, a truck driver from High Point, was the favorite of 4 percent, and Howard Staley, a podiatrist from Moncure, was the choice of 2 percent.

But the majority of those surveyed - 58 percent - remained undecided about which candidate they preferred to take on Republican Sen. Elizabeth Dole.

A new statewide poll shows the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate to be a dead heat.

Jim Neal, a Chapel Hill investment banker, is supported by 21 percent of likely voters, compared to state Sen. Kay Hagan of Greensboro, with 18 percent, according to a SurveyUSA poll conducted for WTVD-TV.

The survey found 44 percent of Democratic voters were undecided, with Marcus Williams, Howard Staley and Duskin Lassiter in single digits, reports Rob Christensen.

The new poll also found that Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue was leading state Treasurer Richard Moore, 44-28 percent, in the Democratic primary for governor.

In the GOP primary for governor, Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory led with 26 percent, followed by state Sen. Fred Smith with 18 percent, Salisbury attorney Bill Graham with 16 percent, and former Supreme Court Justice Bob Orr with 12 percent.

In the presidential race, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama was leading New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, 49-41 percent.

The survey was taken by automated phone calls on March 8-10. There were 713 Democrats interviewed with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.7 percentage points, and 403 Republicans interviewed with a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points.