THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, October 18, 1996 TAG: 9610180529
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY MASON PETERS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 30 lines
Four terms and 24 years after his first Senate victory, Jesse Helms apparently is more popular than ever in North Carolina, a new Mason-Dixon political poll showed Thursday.
The Republican incumbent, who turns 75 today, is heading into a second November election date with Democrat Harvey Gantt and holds a 49 to 41 percent lead, the poll showed.
``Helms' popularity is higher now than at any time in the last six years,'' said Brad Coker, a Mason-Dixon poll executive.
Gantt was defeated by Helms in their first U.S. Senate race, in 1990, but this year North Carolina Democrats have predicted that Gantt should run much stronger.
As in 1990, race may be a key factor in Helms-Gantt politics.
Gantt, a black Charlotte architect, was hand-picked by Democrats to run against Helms, who is perceived as a hard-right white conservative.
Black North Carolina voters overwhelmingly support Gantt, 89 percent to 1 percent, according to the Mason-Dixon poll.
But among white voters, Helms has more than a two-to-one lead, the poll showed.
Helms is running strongest in the northeast, the southeast and in rural regions of western North Carolina, the survey reported.
KEYWORDS: U.S. SENATE RACE NORTH CAROLINA by CNB