Rep. Ted Budd (R-NC) is closely leading Democrat Cheri Beasley less than 35 days from the North Carolina U.S. Senate general election, a new poll found.

Forty-three percent of likely North Carolina voters support Budd and 42 percent prefer former North Carolina Supreme Court Chief Justice Beasley, a result within the online survey’s ±4.4 percent credibility interval. SurveyUSA conducted the poll for WRAL between Sept. 28 and Oct. 2 with 1,100 North Carolina adults, 918 of whom are registered to vote in the state; 677 said they are likely to cast a ballot in the election.

As WRAL notes, the survey is the third recent poll showing Budd and Beasley within a single percentage point of each other.

Senate candidate Cheri Beasley talks with the media outside a polling place at Fearrington Village’s The Gathering Place in Pittsboro, N.C., May 17, 2022. (Eamon Queeney for The Washington Post via Getty Images)

“Civitas, a conservative nonprofit organization, last week had Beasley ahead of Budd by 0.3 of a percentage point with 10 percent of respondents undecided. A Meredith College poll on Thursday reported Budd up by 0.3 of a percentage point with 12 percent of respondents undecided,” according to the report. 

Poll respondents rate the economy as the most important issue facing the state (44 percent), trailed by abortion at 17 percent, health care at 9 percent, immigration at 8 percent, crime at 5 percent, taxes at 3 percent, and education at 3 percent. 

Republican strategist Doug Heye told WRAL the economy “seems to be [returning] as a more important issue than it was just a few weeks ago.” 

“That should give Budd a slight upper hand here, but he’ll still have work to do and the debate will be important,” he continued. 

Budd and Beasley will face off in their first debate on Oct. 7 in Raleigh with Spectrum News 1. The station’s Tim Boyum will moderate the debate.