A new survey of North Carolina by Public Policy Polling (D) finds first-term Republican Sen. Richard Burr in a vulnerable position headed into 2010, with narrow leads over three unknown Democratic challengers.
Burr leads former state Senator and Iraq War veteran Cal Cunningham by 45%-36%; he leads attorney Kenneth Lewis by 43%-37%; and he leads Secretary of State Elaine Marshall by 42%-37%. Against a generic Democrat, he has a statistically insignificant edge of only 42%-41%. The margin of error is ±4%.
Burr’s approval rating is 35%, with 37% disapproval. As we’ve noted before, Burr’s problem is not that he’s unpopular — it’s that he hasn’t made much of an impression at all with the voters, and his fate will rest heavily on the nature of the overall political cycle.
For all three Democrats, anywhere from 69%-81% of North Carolina voters don’t have an opinion of them. And in the case of Kenneth Lewis, PPP’s Tom Jensen speculates that respondents might have him confused with the very unpopular Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis. Jensen writes: “Lewis may need to invest down the road in some direct mail or Charlotte tv time to make sure voters in the area know he’s not that Ken Lewis!”
