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In Tight N.C. Senate Race, Marcus And Tarte Point To Favorable Polls

Democrats believe winning N.C. Senate District 41 is one of their best opportunities to flip a seat in the N.C. General Assembly, one step toward breaking the GOP's "Super Majority" in the N.C. General Assembly.

Republican incumbent Jeff Tarte and Democratic challenger Natasha Marcus both released polls this week, and, not surprisingly, both polls show them ahead.

The newly-drawn district includes the Lake Norman area, which is home turf for both candidates. Marcus is from Davidson and Tarte is from Cornelius.

But the district now includes areas in southwest Charlotte like Steele Creek, which tends to vote Democratic.

The Marcus campaign's poll was done by Public Policy Polling of Raleigh.

That poll found Marcus was ahead with 43 percent of the vote compared to Tarte's 37 percent. Twenty percent of voters were unsure.

Public Policy Polling found Democrats win a generic ballot question in the district over Republicans, with 51 percent of the vote, to 41 percent for the GOP. Voters disapprove of President Trump's job performance, 56 to 40 percent.

Tarte's poll was paid for the N.C. Republican Senate Caucus, and conducted by Market Street Research.

It showed Tarte leading with 46 percent of the vote, to Marcus's 43 percent. The poll said that a generic Democratic candidate led a generic Republican by 13 percentage points, but that gap is gone. It said Republicans now have a one point lead on a generic ballot.

Steve Harrison is WFAE's politics and government reporter. Prior to joining WFAE, Steve worked at the Charlotte Observer, where he started on the business desk, then covered politics extensively as the Observer’s lead city government reporter. Steve also spent 10 years with the Miami Herald. His work has appeared in The Washington Post, the Sporting News and Sports Illustrated.