The first public poll released since May 4 North Carolina Democratic Senate primary shows the top vote-getter in that contest, Secretary of State Elaine Marshall, leading Iraq War vet Cal Cunningham in the June 22 runoff race. The Rasmussen poll shows Marshall in the lead by a margin of 42-37.
Marshall and Cunningham are battling it out for the right to face Sen. Richard Burr (R) in the fall. The runoff was declared when none of the Democratic candidates in the low-turnout primary reached 40% of the vote on May 4.
The poll was taken yesterday among 522 likely Democratic primary voters. The margin of error is 4.5%.
Marshall led most polls leading into the May 4 primary. But the race became a three-way contest with Democratic votes split among her, Cunningham and attorney Ken Lewis who carried the support of the state’s prominent African American politicians.
The final results on May 4: Marshall 36, Cunningham 27, Lewis 17.
Heading into the June runoff, it is Lewis’ voters that most are focused on. If either candidate is able to grab his largely minority voting bloc, it could mean the difference between victory and defeat in June.
Democrats in the state are not expecting the race to fire up voters, however. As Eric reported yesterday, a Democratic source in the state said the contest will be as much about dragging voters out in the summer heat as winning them over on the campaign trail.
“The turnout numbers will be very low,” the source said in Eric’s report. “And so it will be matter of which one of the two will be able to reach out and get a small group of people to the polls.”
