Republican congressman Kevin Cramer is leading incumbent Democrat Heidi Heitkamp in the North Dakota Senate race by a margin of ten percentage points, according to a new poll from Valley News Live and Strategic Research Associates.

The poll surveyed 650 likely voters and found that Cramer has a hefty advantage over Heitkamp, with 51 percent support to her 41 percent. Eight percent of voters remain undecided.


His primary edge comes from his support among male respondents, who prefer him over Heitkamp by more than 20 percentage points. Among female respondents, Cramer and Heitkamp are neck and neck, with Cramer at 46.6 percent and Heitkamp at 46.5. Voters under the age of 40 prefer Heitkamp by about three percentage points.

The poll was conducted during the window after Christine Blasey Ford’s sexual-assault allegations against Brett Kavanaugh became public, but before either Ford or Kavanaugh testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee last week. Sixty percent of survey respondents said they support Kavanaugh’s nomination, 27 percent say they oppose him, and 13 percent say they are undecided on the question.

Heitkamp has yet to announce whether or not she will vote to confirm Kavanaugh. Her most recent comment on the topic was to praise Republican senator Jeff Flake’s call for an FBI investigation into the sexual-assault allegations against Kavanaugh. When asked how Heitkamp plans to vote on his nomination, her office directed NRO to the senator’s recent op-ed on the topic explaining why she remains undecided.