RALEIGH, N.C. — The John Kerry/John Edwards presidential ticket has a lot of work to do if they hope to be smiling about the results from North Carolina on election night.

In a

WRAL news poll

, conducted by Mason-Dixon, 52 percent of likely voters said they will choose the Bush-Cheney ticket. Forty-three percent will select the Kerry-Edwards ticket. The North Carolina numbers were closer in July after Kerry selected Edwards as his running mate. Then, 48 percent of voters supported the Republican team while 45 percent supported the Democratic team.

Presidential Vote

"President Bush's record of lower taxes and less government is appealing to the voters of North Carolina," said Bill Peaslee, of the state Republican Party.

"Would we like for the numbers to be different? Sure, but we feel very good about where we are and I think we're going to surprise a lot of people on Nov. 2," said Scott Falmlen, of the state Democratic Party.

The poll also indicates that just because John Edwards is from the state, that does not mean all North Carolinians like him. Edwards' favorable name recognition is at 43 percent, which is down from 48 percent in May. Edwards' unfavorable name recognition is now at 44 percent, up from 31 percent in May.

Edwards Name Recognition

Despite the lackluster poll numbers, the state Democratic party said only the actual vote counts.

"Democrats outregistered Republicans by almost 50,000 in the last year, so clearly, we think that has benefit to us," Falmlen said.

Republicans hope good poll news for the top of the ticket trickles down.

"The goal now is to make sure the other candidates down the ballot like Richard Burr and Patrick Ballentine prevail as well," Peaslee said.