Republican John Hoeven remains well ahead in the U.S. Senate race in North Dakota with the seat now held by retiring Democrat Byron Dorgan on course to be a likely GOP pickup in November.

A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Voters in North Dakota finds Hoeven, the state's highly popular governor, leading Democratic nominee Tracy Potter by better than three-to-one, 69% to 22%.  Two percent (2%) prefer some other candidate, and seven percent (7%) are undecided.

The numbers in this race have shown little change since Dorgan’s surprise announcement in January that he would not seek reelection.  That announcement came shortly after a Rasmussen Reports poll in the state showed Hoeven with a 22-point lead over Dorgan in a hypothetical Senate match-up.

Since then, support for Hoeven has ranged from 68% to 73%, while Potter has earned 17% to 25% of the vote. Last month, Hoeven led Potter 73% to 19%.

North Dakota is rated Sold GOP in the Rasmussen Reports Senate Balance of Power rankings.

Eighty-seven percent (87%) of the state's voters now approve of the job Hoeven is doing as governor. Eleven percent (11%) disapprove. This is little changed from a month ago.

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The survey of 500 Likely Voters in North Dakota was conducted on July 21, 2010 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 4.5 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

The race to represent North Dakota in the U.S. House of Representatives appears a little tighter this month, with Republican Rick Berg earning 49% support to Democratic incumbent Earl Pomeroy’s 46%.

Hoeven earns 93% support from his fellow Republicans and 26% of the Democratic vote. Sixty percent (60%) of Democrats support Potter. Voters not affiliated with either party prefer the Republican by a 69% to 14% margin.

Sixty-four percent (64%) of all voters in North Dakota favor repeal of the new national health care bill, higher than the national average. Thirty-two percent (32%) oppose repeal of the health care bill.  These findings include 51% who Strongly Favor repeal and 21% who Strongly Oppose repeal.

Among those voters in the state who Strongly Favor repeal, Hoeven earns 89% of the vote.  Fifty-one percent (51%) of the smaller group who Strongly Opposes repeal support Potter.

Sixty-three percent (63%) of North Dakota voters favor an Arizona-like immigration law in their own state.  Nearly as many (60%) disagree with the U.S. Justice Department's decision to challenge Arizona's law in federal court. Both findings are even higher than views among voters nationally.

Fifty-six percent (56%) of voters in the state share a Very Favorable view of the governor, while just five percent (5%) view him Very Unfavorably. Just two percent (2%) have no opinion of Hoeven.

Only 11% view Potter Very Favorably, and the same number (11%) have a Very Unfavorable opinion of the Democratic state senator.  However, 24% don’t know him well enough to offer any kind of opinion.

At this point in a campaign, Rasmussen Reports considers the number of people with strong opinions more significant than the total favorable/unfavorable numbers.

Just 11% of North Dakota voters rate the U.S. economy as good or excellent, while 37% view it as poor.  Twenty-nine percent (29%) say the economy is getting better, but 44% think it's getting worse. Sixty percent (60%) say the United States is in a recession.

John McCain carried North Dakota by a 53% to 45% margin over Obama in November 2008, and 40% of the state’s voters now approve of how the president is doing his job. Fifty-nine percent (59%) disapprove of Obama’s job performance.  This is more critical than voters are of Obama nationally in the Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll.

Rasmussen Reports has recently surveyed Senate races in Arizona, Alabama, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin.

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