Sen. Thom Tillis met his lowest point of support versus Cal Cunningham in a North Carolina poll released Friday.
A New York Times/Siena College poll conducted Sept. 11-16 found the incumbent Republican senator with 37% support, while Democratic challenger Cunningham was 5 points ahead at 42%. Another 16% of voters were undecided about who they would vote for or refused to answer. The poll included 653 likely voters and has a margin of error of 4.3 percentage points.
The poll brings Cunningham to a 3.6 percentage point lead over Tillis in the RealClearPolitics average of recent North Carolina Senate polls. It marks one of the lowest points for Tillis in recent North Carolina Senate polls, meeting his previous low of 37% in a June Fox News poll that found Cunningham at 39%.
The Times said the poll shows Tillis in a “particularly weak position,” noting that he is earning much less support than President Trump.
In the same poll, 45% of North Carolinian voters said that they will vote for Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, nearly neck-and-neck with 44% for Trump.
North Carolina is one of the prime targets for Democrats to flip. They need to flip four to five Senate seats in order to secure a majority.
The poll release showed two other incumbent Republicans in weak positions. Maine Sen. Susan Collins had 44%, while Democratic challenger Sara Gideon had 49%, and Arizona Sen. Martha McSally had 42% support to Democrat Mark Kelly’s 50%.
