Democrat Cheri Beasley and Republican Ted Budd are in a statistical dead heat in the race for U.S. Senate in North Carolina, acceding to a new Civiqs Poll released Wednesday.
Beasley narrowly leads Budd 49% to 48% among 617 likely North Carolina voters polled Sept. 17-20.
Her favorability is split, however, at a slightly underwater 44% favorability to 45% unfavorability. Budd is in worse territory, though, with 49% of polled voters indicating an unfavorable opinion of the Republican and only 41% a favorable opinion.
Both are fairing better among voters than the nation’s chief executive. Likely voters indicated a 54% unfavorability for President Joe Biden while just 43% favor the President.
The survey has a margin of error of +/-5.5%.
Beasley and Budd are running for the seat currently held by Republican U.S. Senator Richard Burr, who is retiring. It represents an opportunity for Democrats to pick up a seat in the now-split Senate as Republicans fight to keep the seat red.
Democrats have been disappointed in statewide contests for years. Former President Barack Obama won the state in 2008, but lost it four years later. Donald Trump narrowly bested Democratic challengers in the Tar Heel state in 2016 and 2020.
