Poll Shows Raleigh Mayor's Race a Tossup

According to a newMason-Dixonpoll, the race between Paul Coble and Stephanie Fanjul is a toss-up.

Coble has a lead over Fanjul that is smaller than the poll's margin of error of plus or minus 5 percent.

As of Sunday, the numbers were 43 percent in favor of Coble and 42 percent in favor of Fanjul. Only 15 percent of the voters polled say they are still trying to decide who they will vote for.

The poll shows there is a significant gender gap. Of male voters polled, 54 percent favor Coble to 31 percent for Fanjul.

When the gender is reversed, so are the numbers with 53 percent of women favoring Fanjul and 32 percent favoring Coble.

There are two major issues that stand out in the minds of Raleigh voters.

Managing growth and development is the top concern of 37 percent of likely voters; taxes and government spending was a close second at 33 percent.

The telephone poll was conducted Oct. 23 - 25, 1999, of 427 likely voters from Raleigh for WRAL-TV andThe News and Observer.