Most North Dakota polls (including internals and those from prominent firms) should be treated with a grain of salt. The state has no voter registration and therefore no reliable voter file. Pollsters have no idea who they are interviewing (with regards to vote history, modeled turnout probability, and other voter file data that pollsters use to draw samples). The state really is a political consultant's nightmare.
That being said, even a faulty voter file (which was almost certainly used for this poll) would not cause a 12 point deficit. Heitkamp is probably trailing, though 12 points is probably not the truth.
FINALLY SOME COMMON SENSE!
