Civitas released a poll Tuesday, Oct. 25, that is good news for Republicans and not such good news for Democrats.

In the race at the top of the ballot, the Civitas poll shows Republican 13th District Congressman Ted Budd extending his lead over Democrat Cheri Beasley.  The poll shows Budd at 46.9 percent – an increase of three points from the September poll – and Beasley at 43.1 percent.  The Budd lead still falls within the polls plus or minus 3.99 percent margin of error, but the polls conducted in August and September had the two candidates in a dead heat.

In general, the numbers for Republicans are trending up as the election approaches.  The generic poll on congressional races found that 50.3 percent of North Carolinians plan to vote for a Republican congressional candidate and only 44.2 percent plan to vote for a Democrat candidate.

The generic poll for the state legislature is almost the same, with 50.1 percent planning to vote for Republican candidates – which is a 3.5 percent increase from the Civitas poll conducted in September.

Many consider the two races for North Carolina Supreme Court justice as the most important on the ballot for the future of the state.  In both races, the polls indicate the Republicans have a sizable advantage. According to the poll, Republican Trey Allen has a 7.4 percent lead over Democrat incumbent Sam Ervin, with 49.4 percent planning to vote for Allen and 42 percent for Ervin.

Republican Supreme Court candidate Richard Dietz is also leading, but not by as much.  The poll results show 48.5 percent of voters plan to vote for Dietz while 42.4 percent plan to vote for his Democrat opponent Lucy Inman.

It should be no surprise that the poll results show that the economy is the main issue with 88.5 percent of respondents expressing concern over the price of groceries and 64.7 percent stating that inflation is the primary issue influencing their vote.

With the Democrats currently in control of the US House, Senate and the White House, the fact that 72.5 percent of North Carolinians are pessimistic about the direction of the country is bad news for Democrat candidates.

The survey was conduced Oct. 20 to 22, with 600 likely general election voters.

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