North Carolina then-Gov. Roy Cooper in Wilmington, North Carolina on October 24, 2024 (Darwin Brandis/ Shutterstock.com)
Things are not going well for Republicans in North Carolina as they desperately try to hold onto a U.S. Senate seat that has been reliably Republican under Sen. Thom Tillis (R) since he nabbed the seat in 2014.
The Carolina Journal cited a new survey from Healthier United, a health care advocacy group, that shows Gov. Roy Cooper (D) is crushing challenger Michael Whatley, 50 percent to 32 percent. Libertarian Shannon Bray is pulling 4 percent support.
The poll shows that only 14 percent of voters are still undecided. If Whatley were to claim all 14 percent of undecided voters, he would still lose the election to Cooper
The Journal noted that the numbers, which were taken from a poll earlier in March after the official primary election, is quite the change from two other surveys.
"A Carolina Journal poll conducted March 22-23 put Cooper ahead 49 percent to 41 percent — an 8-point lead. A poll from Public Policy Polling, a Democratic-aligned firm, conducted March 13-14 found the race even tighter, with Cooper at 47 percent and Whatley at 44 percent, a difference within the poll’s margin of error," the report said.
Paul Shumaker of Capitol Communications, one of the pollsters, explained that Whatley's challenge is being a nobody going up against a popular governor.
“The bigger challenge for Michael Whatley right now is getting a level of identity established and defining that level of identity as it matters going into the Senate race,” he said.
“Neither political party has ownership of the future of North Carolina,” Shumaker said. “It’s going to be the unaffiliated and how they decide to break.”
He compared the numbers to what they saw during the pandemic in 2020, where Republicans were destroyed by an angry electorate.
Whatley also faces a depressed MAGA wing of the GOP and an energized Democratic Party eager to fight back against full GOP control in Washington. It's evident in the generic ballot for the state legislature, where Democrats hold 49 percent support, while the GOP holds 38 percent. There are 14 percent undecided there as well.
Voters are eager for the election, with nearly 78 percent rating their interest in the Senate race an eight, nine or 10 on a scale from one to 10. Whopping 73 percent of that comes from Democrats and only 59 percent of Republicans show interest in the race. Unaffiliated voters rank at 60 percent interest.
President Donald Trump won North Carolina with 50.86 percent of the vote in 2024. His approval currently stands at 40 percent in the state and 53 percent unfavorable. Meanwhile, 58 percent of voters in North Carolina say the country is going in the wrong direction. Only 35 percent say it's on the right track. Those who identify as the most engaged in the senate race show that 62 percent say the country is on the wrong track.