RALEIGH – A new Civitas poll is giving us a closer look at where things stand in the race for governor.
Former Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory has a 10-point lead over Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton, according to the poll.
Polled voters said they polled prefer McCrory by a margin of 48 percent to 38 percent.
Civitas also looked at the favorability of the candidates.
About 48 percent of voters view McCrory favorably, while 20 percent have an unfavorable view of the former Charlotte mayor.
The poll showed that 33 percent have a favorable view of Dalton, while 21 percent view him unfavorably.
Dalton has closed the gap by 8 points since Civitas' February poll, which had McCrory ahead, 49 percent to 30 percent.
This poll was conducted by asking 600 likely registered general election voters.
For a breakdown of the Civitas results, click here.
Polling of the gubernatorial race has had McCrory ahead of Dalton, even before Gov. Bev Perdue said she wouldn't run in late January.
Public Policy Polling said earlier this month that McCrory lead Dalton, 46 percent to 40 percent.
Read the full results here.
The poll comes while Dalton and McCrory are trading barbs over negative ads.
The Republican Governor's Association tries to link Dalton with Bev Perdue, who is unpopular and has a low job approval rating.
But McCrory has filed a lawsuit over an ad funded by the Democratic Governor's Association, questioning his ethics while sitting on the board of Tree.com. McCrory has spoken out vehemently against the ad, saying the ad is factually wrong and illegal.
His campaign also has filed a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission.
When the Charlotte Observer wrote an editorial, calling for an end to negative ads in the gubernatorial campaign, McCrory took the pledge and called on Dalton to do the same thing.
But whether the respective campaigns will refrain from negative campaign is irrelevant, as it is third-party groups that are producing negative ads.
Whatever the polls say right now, the campaign has already taken an ugly turn.