Edwards doing well in recent NC poll [View All]

[AP]

Remember, NC has gone Republican every year since '76, so the stats which include Republican voters are very encouraging. Edwards is trending in the right direction here too. He's closed the gap on Bush from 19 to 10.

Clinton, I believe, was losing to Bush by 15-20 points in '91. Edwards and Clark are down by 10 (52-42 and 50-40, respectively). Dean loses 54-40. (MOE is 4.) It looks like Edwards might have made the right move in dropping out of Senate race, since his approvals in NC have shot up, and there's less resistance to his candidacy. (This isn't explicit...I'm just inferring.)

http://www.newsobserver.com/edwards/coverage/story/3025576p-2770984c.html

Edwards easily would win North Carolina's Democratic presidential primary if it were held today, despite growing interest in Dean. The poll found Edwards would draw the support of 43 percent of Democrats, while Dean would get 25 percent. All seven other Democrats were in single digits.

Dean's support has more than doubled since January. Meanwhile, those backing Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts dropped from 20 percent in July to 9 percent in the current poll.

The poll showed other positive trends for Edwards in his home state. Fifty-four percent of North Carolina voters polled said they approve of his presidential run. That compares with 39 percent who approved when he launched an exploratory bid for the presidency in January.

Similarly, 49 percent said they believe he is qualified to be president. That compares with 38 percent in January. But voters offered a mixed assessment of Edwards' chance of becoming the Democratic nominee. Twenty-one percent of those polled said he is likely to win the nomination, while 34 percent said he has some chance to win and 36 percent said he has no chance. Those numbers are slightly more optimistic than results two months ago.