Richard Burr's Negative Marks from Voters Hurt Him in N.C. Senate Poll

First-term GOP Sen. Richard Burr holds a statistically-insignificant lead over Democrat Elaine Marshall in North Carolina's Senate race, an outcome that probably has more to do with Burr's high negatives among voters than progress by Marshall, according to a Public Policy Polling survey conducted July 27-31.

Burr is ahead of Marshall, the secretary of state, by 39 percent to 37 percent with 7 percent supporting Libertarian Michael Beitler and 17 percent undecided. Beitler draws 4 percent of Democratic votes and 6 percent of Republicans.

Burr is getting somewhat stronger support from the Republican base than Marshall has among Democrats. He has a 44 percent to 25 percent lead over Marshall among independents (20 percent of the sample) with 14 percent favoring Beitler and 17 percent undecided.

Forty-four percent of voters disapprove of the job Burr is doing in the Senate while 32 percent approve, with 24 percent undecided. While more independents favor Burr over Marshall, a plurality join those who disapprove of his performance.

Those numbers point to a race that right now is more a referendum on Burr than it is about Marshall's ability to give him a competitive race. Despite a primary and a runoff that had Marshall in the news for weeks, 58 percent still do not know enough about her to offer a favorable or unfavorable opinion. That's true of 67 percent of independents and even 50 percent of her fellow Democrats.

"Burr's support in the horse race has stagnated, but his job approval numbers are the worst PPP has ever recorded," PPP said.

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