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The often-overlooked races for the state's top posts are surprisingly close this campaign season with Republican challengers keeping it close against Democratic incumbents, according to a new poll.

In the lieutenant governor's race, Republican Dan Forest and Democrat Linda Coleman are essentially tied, a Public Policy Polling sruvey shows, with Forest holding a one-point advantage (38 to 37 percent) within the margin of error.

Secretary of State Elaine Marshall, a Democratic incumbent who won  by 14 points in 2008, leads Republican challenger Ed Goodwin, a first-time statewide candidate by just six points, 43 percent to 37 percent. Democratic Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin leads Republican rival Mike Causey by four points. Goodwin won in 2008 by seven percentage points.

"The Republican strength at the top of the ticket looks to be making the other statewide offices more competitive than usual this year as well," writes pollster Tom Jensen with PPP, a Democratic firm.

Gov. Bev Perdue's job performance rating continues to tumble with less than one in three North Carolina voters approving and more than half disapproving, according to a new poll.

Public Policy Polling, a Democratic survey firm based in Raleigh, found that Republican challenger Pat McCrory maintained his double-digit lead among likely voters in a hypothetical matchup, winning 52 percent to 41 percent, a very slight improvement from last month.

Perdue's 32 percent approval rating is her lowest since March, down 6 percentage points from November. Her disapproval is at 51 percent. McCrory's favorability remained essentially the same (down 1 percentage point) and his unfavorable numbers improved from 28 percent to 24 percent ahead of his expect announcement to formally enter the governor's race.