NC-Sen: Cooper Leads Burr in New Poll

Civitas (3/16-19, registered voters):

Roy Cooper (D): 41

Richard Burr (R-inc): 38

Undecided: 21

(MoE: ±4.0%)

Roy Cooper, the Attorney General of North Carolina, continues to post the best numbers of any prospective Democrat against GOP wallflower Richard Burr. A Research 2000 poll for Daily Kos in January showed Burr edging Cooper by a 45-43 margin, while PPP had Cooper leading by a 39-34 spread in December. Burr has to be nervous about a head-to-head race against the state’s top lawman.

Both Burr and Cooper will have an opportunity to acquaint a broad swath of voters with themselves; Burr holds a 44-12 favorability rating, but 31% have “no opinion” of the Senator, and another 19% have never heard of him. Lacking a well-defined image after four years in office while holding a notoriously volatile seat seems to be Burr’s biggest weakness at this point. Cooper, meanwhile, is not exactly a household name either — he sports a 32-4 favorability rating with 27% having no opinion of him and complete unfamiliarity with another 37%.

Still, Democrats have to be pretty excited about these nums. We just have to hope that Cooper can be persuaded to take the plunge.

30 thoughts on “NC-Sen: Cooper Leads Burr in New Poll”

  2. Cooper would be as strong of a candidate as Kay Hagen, and Burr is not as strong of a candidate as Dole, so intuitively, Cooper should win handily.  The only thing that concerns me is the Republican spinmeisters that will try to tie Cooper to the phantom “left-wing plan” of Obama’s.  

  3. He got 60% of the vote when he was reelected to a third term in 2008 and he received more votes than any other candidate of either party on the ballot in North Carolina last November. In 2004, Burr only won by about 5 points over Erskine Bowles (a fairly weak opponent in comparison) while Bush won NC by 12%.

    I think if Cooper ran he would be successful, but he is just taking some time to size up his options. Even if he ran and lost, the AG job wouldn’t be on the ballot in 2010 and he could keep his job.

    Burr is not only a wallflower Republican, but here in NC we hear nothing about what he does for NC other than make partisan attacks, which doesn’t help us much in the Dem. Congress. Roy Cooper is in the news all the time for the efforts he’s made on the environment, sex predators, mortgage scams, and other things. He led the national push to keep sex offenders off Facebook and MySpace.

    I think he will run if people call for him to enter. Does anyone know if Menendez and the DSCC have met with anyone about the NC race?

  4. I put this in another thread but not everyone may have seen it.

    I go to a high school in NC, and the girl who sits next to me in French class goes to his church and is friends with one of Roy Cooper’s daughters. Apparently he is reluctant to run because several of his children are still school-age and he is concerned about having to live in DC or move the rest of his family away from NC.

    Not sure how that will play out…

  6. But I’m still not convinced.  I still think the fundamentals on Burr are not as weak as Dole’s were.  And, again, the turnout will be down amongst our groups in 2010.  It’s way early, and these are good numbers, but I’m skeptical that we’d elect two Democratic Senators (though I bet Virginia said that not so long ago).

  7. they are the undisputed heavyweights of their party in a position to be the favorite against the incumbent.  but they maintain that position more easily by not actually running.  the big difference of course is that cooper’s going to have to start raising serious money soon to beat burr.

    so we junkies fret, but they are running on a different calendar.

    the other interesting question is:  how different of a north carolina is this?  the triangle, like northern virginia, has brought in a huge migration of more liberal “northern” votes, making NC possibly a true swing state dependent on candidates’ personal charms, money, and the popularity of the current president(a variable that may be playing a role for cooper as well).

    but me personally i want him to get in…soon.

  8. In fact, NC is the only state in the South where all of the following are true:

    +Democratic governors since 1993 (only Washington and Oregon go back further than NC

    +Both houses of state legislature are Democratic

    +Went for Obama in 2008

    +Democratic advantage in congressional delegation (8-5)

    +At least one Democratic U.S Senator

    +All but two statewide offices (Ag and Labor Commissioner) held by Democrats

    So at this point in time, in basically every way we are a very Democratic state.

    Yet another reason why Burr is in so much trouble.

  9. I am a North Carolina Republican.  But I’ll vote for anyone,  and I mean anyone,  who runs against Senator Richard Burr.

    I’ve voted Republican my entire life.  But I’m fed up with the irresponsible leadership in the Republican party.  I live, eat, sleep and breathe the world of finance.  And I know who is to blame for this financial crises.  Republicans.  Every single Republican who served during the Bush Administration needs to be booted from office. I’m going to do my part.  Every single day,  from now until the election,  18 months from now,  I’ll be blogging Senator Richard Burr out of office.  When the election rolls around,  and you do any keyword search on Senator Richard Burr,  your screen is going to be full of my critical posts pounding on this worthless Senator.  From now,  until the election, you can find me here:

    http://republicanagainstburr.b…

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