The new survey of North Carolina by Public Policy Polling (D) shows a tied race for the Democratic Senate primary runoff, set for June 22. Secretary of State Elaine Marshall, who came in first place in the initial round last week, and former state Sen. Cal Cunningham, the unofficially-backed candidate of national Dems, have 36% each among likely runoff voters.
Interestingly, voters don’t know that Cunningham is the favored candidate of national Dems. Respondents were asked who they thought was the nationally-backed candidate, with 33% saying Cunningham and 32% Marshall. The internals further show that each side’s voters think their own candidate is the national favorite — so there’s no pro- or anti-establishment feeling going on here.
“Next month’s runoff election is likely to see even lower turnout than last week’s primary,” writes PPP president Dean Debnam. “We’re finding that Cunningham’s supporters are more enthusiastic than Marshall’s, and that could allow him to close the gap from last week’s results between now and the runoff.”
