The poll found Edwards leading in North Carolina's Democratic presidential primary, which will be held in May.
Edwards drew the support of 43 percent of Democrats surveyed, with Dean at 25 percent - an amount that has more than doubled since January. The seven other Democrats were in single digits, including Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts at 9 percent - down from 20 percent in July.
The poll also showed increasing approval of his presidential run - 54 percent of those surveyed now approve of it compared to 39 percent when he launched his exploratory bid in January. Edwards said in September he would not seek re-election to the Senate next year so he could devote all of his energies to run for the presidency.
Twenty-one percent of those polled said Edwards is likely to win the nomination, while 34 percent said he has some chance to win and 36 percent said he has no chance.
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The telephone poll of 600 likely voters in North Carolina, conducted Monday through Thursday, has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
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