Berry leads Republican field

PPP added Labor Commissioner Cherie Berry into the mix on the Republican side for its monthly North Carolina Senate poll, and she leads the GOP field. Berry gets 18% to 16% for previous leader Virginia Foxx, 10% each for Renee Ellmers and Patrick McHenry, 7% for Phil Berger, 5% for Greg Brannon, 3% each for George Holding and Thom Tillis, and 1% for Terry Embler.

Berry is the only one of the potential Republican candidates with name recognition over 50%. 32% of primary voters have a positive opinion of her to 19% with a negative one. She's particularly strong with moderate Republicans, leading Foxx 25-10 with them, and she also does well with young voters, holding a 26/16 edge over Foxx with them.

When it comes to the general election Kay Hagan continues to lead all of her potential opponents for reelection by anywhere from 5 to 15 points. Patrick McHenry comes the closest at 45/40. Other Republicans within single digits are Cherie Berry and Thom Tillis who each trail by 8 points at 46/38 and Renee Ellmers who's down by 9 at 47/38. The rest are down by double digits- Virginia Foxx and George Holding are down 10 at 48/38 and 46/36 respectively, Phil Berger's down 11 at 49/38, Greg Brannon's down 13 at 48/35, and Terry Embler has a 15 point deficit at 48/33.

As we have found for most of the time since she took office North Carolinians are divided on Hagan's job performance with 39% approving and 38% disapproving. Her wide leads over most of the Republican field have a lot to do with them having low name recognition- it seems likely that this race will tighten up once the GOP has a candidate and voters across the state start becoming more familiar with them.

The story with this race remains the same- Hagan has a lead but she also has pretty average approval numbers and much will be determined by the political climate and the GOP's ability to come up with a good candidate.

Full results here

Comments

[obama drone strike]

Why not be the first polling company to dare to ask American citizens what they think of the NDAA law that Obama maintains gives him the power to indefinitely detain or assassinate anyone he deems to be a threat without charge or trial? Or what they think about Obama assassinating a 16 year old US citizen with a drone strike?

I heard a great deal of uproar from NPR and MSNBC types when Bush was torturing people, but virtually all of those same sources have grown silent over the drone strike issue. Have the same progressives who invoke "moving forward" now simply become cheerleaders for third world nation style powers that the leader of the US has?

I would like to know what voters from both parties and independents such as myself think about the issue. Even if it is just one state, I would love to see some polling done since I cannot find any elsewhere.