Nikki Haley has 10 point lead in governor's race

South Carolina's Indian-American Republican governor Nikki Haley has a 10 point lead over her Democratic challenger and state Senator Vincent Sheheen in the governor's race, according to a new poll.

The poll of 1,082 likely voters by Winthrop University shows Haley, born Nimrata 'Nikki' Randhawa, daughter of Sikh immigrant parents from Punjab, with a 43.6 percent to 33.6 percent margin, ABC News reported.

Poll results ahead of the Nov 4 election also show attorney and former judge Tom Ervin has 3.9 percent of the votes while 23.4 percent of people who participated in the poll are undecided.

More than half of the voters surveyed about the governor's race say they are fairly pleased with South Carolina's economy, which is listed as one of the most important problems to South Carolinians along with jobs and education.

According to the poll, the majority of South Carolinians are in favour of their incumbents, but not in favour of the president or Congress.

The voters gave President Barack Obama a 28 percent approval rating, which according to the poll lags behind Obama's national approval, and the Congress a still lower 12.7 percent approval rating.