With less than a week until election day, a new NBC News/Marist poll shows Democratic challenger Cal Cunningham up ten points over Sen. Thom Tillis.
The senate race is one of the most-watched in the nation, one of a handful that could lead to Democratic control of the U.S. Senate.
The poll has the race at 53-43 in Cunningham’s favor among both registered voters and likely voters. Cunningham’s lead is more than double the poll’s 4.7 point margin-of-error.
The results mirrors a WRAL News poll from earlier this month that found Cunningham leading Tillis 49 percent to 39 percent. That poll came after text messages revealed Cunningham had an extramarital affair. The affair has been heavily featured in negative ads against Cunningham. But his lead has increased since those revelations, despite his refusal to answer questions about whether there have been other affairs.
Cunningham, a Lt. Colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve, is facing an investigation for possible violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice in relation to the affair.
Tillis, who tested positive for COVID-19 early this month, is running for a second six-year term in the senate.
The NBC News/Marist poll also shows Gov. Roy Cooper with a 59-40 lead over his Republican challenger, Lt. Gov. Dan Forest.
See the full poll results, including info about methodology, here.
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