New survey data from Public Policy Polling finds Democrats in the lead in the North Carolina Senate race. Whoever wins the race will serve in the seat currently occupied by retiring Republican Richard Burr.
In the newly available numbers, Democratic contender Cheri Beasley had 42 percent of the support, and Ted Budd, her Trump-backed, GOP challenger, nabbed just 41 percent. A full 12 percent of respondents behind these numbers indicated they were undecided. While that’s obviously a close margin, anything counts. The last time North Carolina had a Dem Senator wasn’t that long ago. It was in 2015, when Kay Hagan left office after losing her race for re-election to Republican Thom Tillis, who is currently in power. Notably, Beasley also had better favorability numbers than Budd in the new poll. A full 40 percent of respondents indicated a favorable view of the Democratic candidate, with 30 percent sharing an unfavorable one. (The rest indicated they were unsure.) For Budd, 34 percent indicated they viewed him favorably, and 40 percent said they saw him unfavorably, with 26 percent unsure. Thus, Beasley is 10 percent up in favorability — and Budd is six percentage points down.
Dems are also looking at favorable polling numbers amid Senate races in Pennsylvania, Arizona, and Wisconsin. Flipping two seats would likely provide Dems with a simple majority in favor of making the changes to filibuster rules that are necessary for taking certain legislative steps Democrats are seeking on a simple majority basis, from putting protections for abortion back into federal law to enacting new safeguards for voting rights. President Joe Biden recently spoke of what could get done if Dems prevail. “Look, my friends, we offer a starkly different version and vision of this country — a vision of a better America that’s within our reach, that’s within our hands if we just vote,” he said at a rally. “If we elect two more senators, [and if] we keep the House… Folks, look, we’ll codify Roe v. Wade. We’ll ban assault weapons. We’ll protect Social Security and Medicare. We’ll pass universal pre-K. We’ll restore the Childcare Tax Credit. We’ll protect voting rights. We’ll pass election reform and make sure no one — no one — ever has the opportunity to steal an election again.”
