Democratic Tracking Poll: Governor and Lieutenant Governor

Governor:

Bev Perdue 41
Richard Moore 32
Undecided 27

Lieutenant Governor:

Walter Dalton 12
Pat Smathers 10
Hampton Dellinger 8
Dan Besse 6
Undecided 65

Last week there was a flurry of activity in the races to be the Democratic nominee for Governor and Lieutenant Governor.

Bev Perdue made a major policy proposal, Richard Moore had a press conference attacking it, and Perdue sent out a press release attacking Moore's attack.

Hampton Dellinger sent an e-mail out criticizing Walter Dalton's voting record, Dalton said Dellinger was exhibiting 'the worst aspect of the campaign season,' Pat Smathers said they should both focus more on the issues and proposed a series of debates, and most of the candidates said yes.

The sum effect of all this on PPP's December tracking poll? Not much at all. Bev Perdue's nine point lead over Richard Moore is in the same range as the 7-11 point lead she has shown in each PPP poll since August. And the order of Dalton, Smathers, Dellinger, and Besse in the Lieutenant Governor's race is the exact same it has been in our last three polls.

Why no movement? While last week's activity was interesting to folks who follow politics closely it's still far too long a time until the election for the average voter to be paying attention. There won't likely be a lot of change in these races that don't get a lot of attention until candidates start really spending money and reaching out to voters in a significant way. For the most part that won't be until March and April.

That doesn't mean that last week's events weren't important though. They have a significant impact on how races will be framed in the media and ultimately in the minds of voters further down the road.

Full Results.