According to a new poll released Tuesday, Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch is in a statistical dead heat with former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford in a potential special congressional election, Politico reports.
The results of the Public Policy Polling survey show Busch, the sister of Comedy Central host Stephen Colbert and an administrator at Clemson University, ahead of Sanford 47 percent to 45 percent, a gap that is within the poll’s margin of error of plus or minus 2.9 percentage points.
Sanford, who left the governorship under a cloud of scandal after admitting to lying to his staff and flying to Argentina to meet his mistress, won the initial primary for South Carolina's 1st Congressional district with 37 percent of the vote.
He currently leads GOP rival Curtis Bostic ahead of their April 2 runoff, 53 percent to 40 percent, PPP found.
Sanford’s lingering unpopularity is giving Busch a substantial opening.
Fifty-eight percent of the district’s voters have an unfavorable opinion of their former governor and congressman, and 34 percent have a favorable view.
Busch is viewed favorably by 45 percent of voters and unfavorably by 31 percent, the survey revealed.
Bostic, a former Charleston County Council member, gives Busch a stiffer challenge, with each drawing 43 percent of the vote.
The survey of 1,175 likely voters was conducted from March 22 to March 24.
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