These poll numbers were released earlier today by Rasmussen Reports -- "an electronic publishing firm specializing in the collection, publication, and distribution of public opinion polling information."
Republican Governor John Hoeven continues to earn overwhelming support in his bid to win the North Dakota Senate seat now held by retiring Democrat Byron Dorgan.
The latest Rasmussen Reports statewide telephone survey of Likely Voters shows Hoeven picking up 69% support, while Democratic State Senator Tracy Potter gets 25% of the vote. Just one percent (1%) prefer some other candidate in the race, while five percent (5%) are undecided.
The numbers in this race have shown little change since Dorgan's surprise announcement in January that he would not seek reelection. That announcement came shortly after a Rasmussen Reports poll in the state showed Hoeven with a 22-point lead over Dorgan in a hypothetical Senate match-up .
Since then, support for Hoeven has ranged from 68% to 73%, while Potter has earned 17% to 25% of the vote. Last month , Hoeven led Potter 69% to 22%.
North Dakota is rated Solid GOP in the Rasmussen Reports Senate Balance of Power rankings.
Voter ratings for Hoeven as governor remain high. Eighty-four percent (84%) approve of the job he's doing, while only 16% disapprove.
Hoeven is backed by 97% of the state's Republican voters, while Potter earns the vote from 69% of Democrats. Hoeven leads by better than four-to-one among voters not affiliated with either major political party.
This statewide telephone survey of 500 Likely Voters in North Dakota was conducted on August 10, 2010 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/-4.5 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC . See methodology .
Rasmussen Reports will release new numbers from the race for the state's only House seat on Monday.
Sixty-five percent (65%) of North Dakota voters view Hoeven as politically conservative, while 28% see him as a moderate.
Thirty-eight percent (38%) believe Potter is liberal, but another 32% say he's moderate.
By an 83% to nine percent (9%) margin, North Dakota voters think Hoeven's views are generally mainstream rather than extreme.
Voters are less sure about where Potter's views lie. While 38% say his views are mainstream, 30% believe they are extreme. But one-in-three voters (32%) don't know enough about Potter's views to have any kind of opinion.
Hoeven is viewed Very Favorably by 54% of North Dakota voters and Very Unfavorably by just three percent (3%). Only three percent (3%) more have no opinion of the governor.
Nine percent (9%) have a Very Favorable opinion of Potter, but 16% regard him Very Unfavorably. Again, a sizable number (22%) of voters don't know Potter well enough to express any kind of opinion.
At this point in a campaign, Rasmussen Reports considers the number of people with strong opinions more significant than the total favorable/unfavorable numbers.
Fifty-two percent (52%) of North Dakota voters rate their personal finances as good or excellent, which is well above results nationwide . Only 10% say their finances as poor. Yet while 25% say their finances are getting better, 41% say they are getting worse.
John McCain carried North Dakota by a 53% to 45% margin over Obama in November 2008, and 42% of the state's voters now approve of how the president is doing his job. Fifty-eight percent (58%) disapprove of Obama's job performance. This is more critical than voters are of Obama nationally in the Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll .
Rasmussen Reports has recently surveyed Senate races in Arizona , Alabama , Arkansas , Colorado , Delaware , Florida , Georgia , Hawaii , Idaho , Illinois , Indiana , Iowa , Kansas , Kentucky , Louisiana , Maryland , Missouri , Nevada , New Hampshire , New York , North Carolina , Ohio , Oregon , Pennsylvania , Vermont , Washington and Wisconsin .