Civitas has a poll out showing state Senate President Pro Tem Marc Basnight, D-Dare, under 50 percent.
Basnight leads his Republican challenger, Hood Richardson, 49-39 percent.
Democratic support for Basnight remains strong as 76 percent said they would vote for him if the election were held today. Conversely, Republicans favor Richardson by a 67 percent-21 percent margin. Unaffiliated voters are also behind Richardson with a 47 percent-31 percent margin of support.
However, among voters who say they are definitely voting in November, Basnight?s lead shrinks to just one percentage point, 47%-46%.
?Senate President Marc Basnight is a North Carolina institution, but his district is changing underneath him, with many new voters moving in and those voters don?t have the same loyalty to him that long-time residents do,? said Civitas Institute Senior Legislative Analyst Chris Hayes. ?Senate District 1 is certainly ?in play? this year, the question is, can Richardson raise the money to be competitive??
