Perdue lead grows

Bev Perdue 48
Pat McCrory 44
Michael Munger 4

Bev Perdue is out to the largest lead she's had in a PPP gubernatorial poll since August.

The issue of Yankee trash may end up being what puts Perdue in the Governor's mansion if she is able to pull out a win in this race. One of the essential problems plaguing her campaign has been that while Pat McCrory is racking up huge margins in the Charlotte metro area, Perdue has not been matching him with an unusually strong performance in her home base of eastern North Carolina. She may have found the issue to help her do that though.

Perdue this week leads 55-37 in northeastern North Carolina and 50-40 in southeastern North Carolina. Even though Barack Obama and Kay Hagan are running better than Perdue statewide, she is now for the first time strongly outrunning them in the east. Obama is up 4 in the NE and tied in the SE while Hagan is down 6 in the NE and up 5 in the SE. A week ago the race was basically tied in eastern North Carolina.

The Yankee trash doesn't get dumped on Charlotte, or Greensboro, or Raleigh. It gets dumped in the east, and making that an issue over the last week seems to really be helping Perdue in that area.

Another way to look at it: last week McCrory had an 18 point lead with rural voters. That's now down to 11. Perdue is now leading by six with small town voters. She previously trailed by one.

A lot could happen between now and election day, and this race certainly remains a tossup. But if Perdue really has turned the tide, it looks like Yankee trash is carrying the day.

Full results here.