Cooper 39, Burr 34

The first poll of the 2010 Senate race came out today.

With the dust barely settled on the last race, Democratic firm Public Policy Polling released numbers comparing U.S. Sen. Richard Burr with possible Democratic opponent Attorney General Roy Cooper.

The poll shows a competitive race, with Cooper leading Burr by five points, 39 to 34 percent. It also shows Burr with a 32 percent approval rating, compared to Cooper's 44 percent approval.

"If Attorney General Roy Cooper decides to run for the Senate in 2010, you can put Richard Burr's name right to the top of the list of endangered incumbents nationally," writes pollster Tom Jensen.

He notes that Burr also had much lower approval ratings among Democrats than Cooper did among Republicans.

The poll of 630 North Carolina voters was taken Dec. 8-9. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.9 percentage points.