Presidential Polls Say North Carolina Too Close to Call

Three recent North Carolina Presidential polls show Republican Presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) leading Democratic Presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) by four points or less, all within the polls' error margins of plus or minus four percent. , making the race for the Tar Heel State's 15 electoral votes a virtual dead heat heading into the November general election. All three polls show Libertarian Party nominee Bob Barr with two to four percent of the likely vote, enough to affect the outcome of a tight election, and that he will take more votes from McCain than Obama.

Sen. Obama has cut Republican nominee Sen. McCain's once ten point lead in the polls in North Carolina to four points, a range within the 4% margin of error, according to the Civitas/TelOpinion DecisionMaker poll of 600 registered voters, released on June 17. In February, 2008, McCain led 46% to Obama's 36% among registered voters. By May, 2008, Obama had cut that 10 point lead to 5 points. In May, McCain led 44% to 39%. Libertarian Party nominee Bob Barr, included for the first time in the Civitas June poll, received two percent voter support. Twelve percent claimed they were undecided. In the poll, 21% of the people who identified themselves as Democrats said they woulo vote for McCain compared to 63% of the Democrats who support Obama. Seven percent of those who identified themselves as Republicans said they would vote for Obama, while 80% of the Republican indicated they woud be loyal to McCain.