U.S. Senate Poll Reaction | Video

Jessica Roose | 10/30/2012

Yesterday`s poll showed that the U.S. Senate race is still close, but Rick Berg is starting to gain a slight lead over his opponent Heidi Heitkamp. That poll showed Heitkamp two points behind Berg, they had been tied earlier this month.

They debated, and they`ve released plenty of campaign ads. While they had been tied at 47 percent support, Heitkamp has dropped to 45-percent.

"I think the Republicanism is coming out of North Dakota, and people are just going back to being Republican, basically," said Bismarck resident Vince Salzer.

Although poll results show the candidates are no longer in a dead heat, it`s still close, and some North Dakotans say we`re just going to have to wait for the results to come in.

"The polls are never the same. I just got a report this morning that says Heidi is up one point. Which I rejoice about...but anyway, how can you believe what these polls say. It`s just going to come down to the election and we`re all probably going to be surprised," said Bismarck resident Sandra Enget.

Differences in polling could come down to a variety of reasons.

"It depends on how dispersed a demographic your using. The other issue with polling right now is whether or not you`re using landline based phones. Whether or not someone is checking their caller ID and refusing to answer and we`re missing out on a lot of people," said University of Mary Political Science Professor Mark Springer.

Springer says Heitkamp`s decline in the poll could just be due to the fact that we are closer to the election now and more people polled are likely to know who they plan to vote for.

"I still think it`s going to come down to the wire and a lot of that just depends on voter turnout."

Since the polls have changed before, there`s no way of knowing what the outcome will be until the results come in.

We`ll have continued coverage on this and other races as the numbers come in starting at 7:00 on election night.

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