Dem-commissioned poll: Heitkamp leads Berg by 5 points in U.S. Senate race
The poll, which was commissioned by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, shows Democrat Heidi Heitkamp, the former N.D. attorney general, leading U.S. Rep. Rick Berg, R-N.D., 47 percent to 42 percent. There is a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percent.
New poll results released today show Democratic U.S. Senate hopeful Heidi Heitkamp is leading Republican Rep. Rick Berg by 5 points in North Dakota’s U.S. Senate race.
The poll, which was commissioned by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, shows Heitkamp leading Berg 47 percent to 42 percent. There is a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percent.
The Mellman Group conducted telephone interviews of 600 likely North Dakota voters Nov. 12 to 16, just days after former Heitkamp’s Nov. 8 announcement that she will seek the Democratic nod for the Senate to replace retiring Sen. Kent Conrad next year.
More than half of respondents (52 percent) gave Heitkamp a positive rating for her job performance as attorney general, a position she held from 1993 to 2000, while 28 percent gave her a negative rating.
Poll respondents did not have the same overall positive view of Berg’s job performance since being sworn into the House this January. He defeated former Democratic Rep. Earl Pomeroy last November by about 10 percentage points.
Just 28 percent of respondents gave Berg a positive job rating, while 56 percent had negative views of his time in office.
A memo written today by Mark Mellman, president and CEO of the Washington, D.C., polling firm, said Berg’s “overwhelmingly negative” job ratings shows Heitkamp “leads the race” to succeed Conrad, who has held a spot on the Senate since 1986.
Conrad announced earlier this year that he would not seek re-election to a sixth term.
“With Heitkamp already ahead in the horserace and so much more highly regarded than Berg, she is in a very strong position to win this contest,” Mellman wrote.
Berg and Heitkamp are the presumed frontrunners in the U.S. Senate race. But they both will face competition to win their party’s endorsements at the state conventions next spring.
Duane Sand plans to seek the GOP nod, and Tom Potter has said he will stay in the Democratic-NPL endorsement race.
Johnson reports on local politics. Reach him at (701) 780-1105; (800) 477-6572, ext. 105; or send email to rjohnson@gfherald.com.
Tags: news, nd, politics, politics, polls, heidi, heitkamp, rick, berg, tom, potter, 2012, election, 2012, us, senate, race, updates, polhead
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