Poll: Most undecided on Lt. Gov. races

Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue is seeking the Democratic nomination for governor, and four Democrats and four Republicans are seeking to fill the office she's leaving.

Mason-Dixon Polling & Research Inc. surveyed 400 likely Republican voters and 400 likely Democratic voters Monday and Tuesday and found a wealth of uncertainty regarding the state's second-highest elected position. The polls have a margin of error of 5 percentage points.

State Sen. Robert Pittenger, R-Mecklenburg, leads among the GOP candidates, with support of 25 percent of those polled. Tim Cook, a former research scientist from Canton, was backed by 9 percent, while Lexington attorney Jim Snyder and Greg Dority, a former member of the U.N. Security Advisory Board in Albania, each garnered 8 percent support in the poll.

Fifty-two percent of likely GOP voters remain undecided.

Snyder lost to Perdue in 2004, while Cook also has been unsuccessful in campaigns for lieutenant governor and U.S. Senate.

A win this time for any of the candidates likely will depend on money, said David McLennan, a political science professor at Peace College.

"It's probably going to come down to who does the last-minute advertising push, who the voters remember when they walk into the polls on Election Day," McLennan said. "You're probably looking at a runoff on both sides."

There is a similar situation on the Democratic side, where 46 percent of voters remain undecided, according to the poll.

State Sen. Walter Dalton, D-Cleveland, leads among voters who have made up their minds, at 23 percent. Hampton Dellinger, a chief legal counsel for Gov. Mike Easley, is close behind at 17 percent.

Canton Mayor Pat Smathers, a retired lieutenant colonel in the North Carolina National Guard, garnered 9 percent support in the poll, while Dan Besse, a lawyer and Winston-Salem councilman, is backed by 5 percent.