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Poll: Burr unpopular, but would win race
Democrats' downturn helps him, but personal numbers unchanged
Sen. Richard Burr’s approval ratings stay in 34-36 percent range, but a study says he would win hypothetical matchups.
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Published: October 9, 2009
RALEIGH - A new poll released yesterday shows that U.S. Sen. Richard Burr is benefiting from the recent decline in popularity of the Democratic Party.
Burr, a Republican from Winston-Salem who is up for re-election next year, now leads a generic Democratic opponent by 11 percentage points. Four months ago, he trailed a generic Democrat by three points.
The data come from Public Policy Polling, a Democratic polling firm based in Raleigh.
Burr's gains come in spite of any apparent increase in his personal popularity. During the four-month period, his approval rating among North Carolinians has remained virtually flat.
In June, 34 percent of those polled said they approved of the job Burr was doing, whereas 35 percent said they disapproved. In the poll released yesterday, 36 percent said they approved of Burr, whereas 35 percent said they disapproved.
Those approval ratings are considered low for an incumbent running for re-election.
Yesterday's poll numbers suggest that, although Burr might not be very popular right now, Democrats are even less popular -- a trend that is reflected nationwide.
Two Democrats already have declared that they are running against Burr. They are Elaine Marshall, North Carolina's secretary of state, and Kenneth Lewis, an attorney and Democratic fundraiser. Several others are considering runs. They include U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge, former state Sen. Cal Cunningham, former Lt. Gov. Dennis Wicker and Chapel Hill Mayor Kevin Foy.
The poll showed Burr holding double-digit leads in hypothetical head-to-head match-ups against all of those candidates.
"Burr's lack of personal popularity is still a problem for him," pollster Tom Jensen wrote on his blog. "If one of the Democratic candidates mounts an unusually strong campaign or if the national political climate shifts back away from the Republicans, he'll look just as vulnerable as he did earlier in the year. But for now he's in a much better position than he was for the first half of 2009."
The poll surveyed 683 North Carolina voters from Oct. 2-4. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.8 percent.
jromoser@wsjournal.com
919-210-6794
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