Democratic Senate candidate Elaine Marshall has narrowed the gap with Richard Burr, but the Republican incumbent still maintains a comfortable lead according to two new polls.
A survey by Public Policy Polling shows Burr leading Marshall by a 48 to 40 margin, down from a 13 point gap three weeks ago. Libertarian candidate Michael Beitler was at 3 percent. She has closed the gap because some of the Democratic voters have begun to come home.
A WRAL News Poll also shows a narrowing gap, although it shows Burr with 53 percent and Marshall at 38 percent, with Beitler at 5 percent.
The PPP survey found that while Marshall is picking up support among Democrats, Burr's backing remains steady. It also found that Burr holds a commanding 52-24 advantage lead among independents suggesting his soft-edged ideological campaign is working.
Marshall has made gains at a time when she has raised her profile by finally going on TV with her advertising campaign and appearing in three TV debates.
The PPP survey of 597 likely North Carolina voters was taken from Oct. 15 to 17th and had a margin error of plus or minus four percent.
The WRAL poll was conducted by SurveyUSA polled 857 likely voters Friday through Monday. The survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.1 percentage points.
Comments
PPP always tilts Democrat
October 28, 2010 - 11:12am — pauld315Their polls always tilt to the Democrat. It must be the way they phrase the question or the group they select to poll. They are usually so much different than the other established pollstrs that i don't even pay attention to their numbers. They are irrelevant.
PPP poll is only poll that is out of date
October 27, 2010 - 4:04pm — policyhoundPPP Oct 15-17 Burr 48 Marshall 40
Civitas Oct 18-20 Burr 44 Marshall 34
WRAL Oct 22-25 Burr 53 Marshall 38
It's also worth mentioning that PPP is a democratic polling firm which has made it perfectly clear that they want Burr to lose this race (their words)!!!! So, the PPP poll is not even valid!!
out of date?
October 27, 2010 - 11:26am — policyhoundHow out of date is Monday?
These polls are out of date, this race is closer than 8 points
October 27, 2010 - 10:58am — MalleusMaleficarumThe most recent poll in this report came out of the field 10 days ago. If Marshall is surging from 13 points down late last month to 8 points down 10 days ago, she has big momentum going into election day. This race is definitely a toss-up.