Raleigh, NC – U.S. Senator Elizabeth Dole has opened up a 10 point lead over her Democratic challenger Kay Hagan in the race for U.S. Senate according to the latest DecisionMaker poll results released today by the Civitas Institute. Dole’s lead has increased by eight points from last month.
Of the 600 likely general election voters surveyed, 48 percent supported Dole while 38 percent supported Hagan. Libertarian candidate Chris Cole, included in the poll for the first time, received one percent support. Thirteen percent were undecided.
“Senator Dole has been able to open up a significant lead over her challenger due to the effective advertising campaign she has run over the past month,” explained Civitas Institute Executive Director Francis DeLuca. “Since last month, Senator Hagan concluded her advertising in conjunction with the end of her primary race, while Senator Dole has just begun to reintroduce herself to voters,” DeLuca concluded.
“In the one area where both candidates have been actively engaged, illegal immigration, Dole has a commanding 63-20 margin over Hagan among voters who identify that as their top issue. Dole is out early and forcefully and it appears successfully, defining herself to voters on this issue,” DeLuca further explained.
Dole has been able to open up her lead from last month by winning over unaffiliated and women voters. In last month’s poll, Hagan led Dole among unaffiliated voters by a 47-35 margin and led among female voters by a 49-42 margin. This month, Dole has reversed those numbers is now even among unaffiliated voters 38-38, and leads among female voters 45-41.
Dole leads in all area codes of the state except the Triangle (919) and Hagan’s home area of the Triad (336).
Click here for full results and crosstabs.
The study of 600 registered voters was conducted June 11-13 by Tel Opinion Research of Alexandria, Virginia. All respondents were part of a fully representative sample of registered voters in North Carolina. For purposes of this study, voters we interviewed had to have voted in either the 2002, 2004 or 2006 general election or were newly registered voters since 2006. The voters were interviewed using live callers.
The confidence interval associated with a sample of this size is such that: 95% of the time, results from 600 interviews (registered voters) will be within +- 4% of the “True Values.” “True Values” refer to the results obtained if were possible to interview every person in North Carolina who had voted in either the 2002, 2004 or 2006 general elections or were newly registered voters since 2006.