Heinrich Has Big Lead Over Balderas, PPP Says

Martin Heinrich has a near 2-1 lead over Hector Balderas in the latest Public Policy Polling survey of New Mexico Democrats.

According to the poll of 270 registered Democrats in the state conducted late last week, Heinrich is leading by 51 to 27 percent.

Asked about those crushing numbers, a poker-faced Balderas said he's not concerned. He said he's started out as the underdog in every office he's ever run for.

"Many voters are just getting to know us and our record," he said. "I'm confident that once voters begin paying attention closely in this election and they hear out message, they're going to respond very favorably."

In PPP's poll of 526 NM voters in general Heinrich leads Republican Heather Wilson 48-43 percent. Balderas has a 1 percentage point edge over Wilson.

The company didn't do a horserace poll of  Republican voters on how Wilson is doing against her  long-shot  primary challenger Greg Sowards.

PPP is a Democratic polling company based in North Carolina. The margin of error for the general election poll is 4.3 percent, while the Democratic primary poll's margin of error is 6 percent.

"Wilson is staying competitive with Heinrich and Balderas in this increasingly Democratic state by peeling off 16-17 percent of the Democratic vote while losing just 4-5 percent of the Republican vote," a PPP news release for the new poll said.

"What's keeping her from the lead right now is a lack of appeal to independent voters," the news release said. "Her favorability with them is (36 favorable/45 percent unfavorable), worse than her overall spread of 40/45, and she basically ties both Democrats with (independents)."