Locke poll sez: Twelve (and a half) points
You spend more money and the race gets even more out-of-hand. 
I am hearing from so many people who wish we could turn back time and hold an actual primary for the GOP nomination for US senator. (You know, since we pretended we didn’t have one.)
I am also hearing from people wondering if we can replace Mike Whatley like they replaced Tillis’ other buddy Chuck Edwards.
As we inch closer and closer to the November election, the polls get worse and worse for President Trump and the RNC’s *Chosen One* – Michael Whatley. Whatley has been out there for over a year and has yet to poll ahead of Roy Cooper.
So far, the polls that have been nicest to Whatley have been produced by liberals. Entities like John Locke – always looking for a chance to pump up the NCGOP – have given Whatley some of his roughest treatment.
Locke and its polling partner, Harper, have released another poll showing Cooper with 51.5 percent to Whatley’s 39 percent. Here’s Locke’s take on the findings:
Democrat Roy Cooper now holds a 12.5-point lead over Republican Michael Whatley in the race for North Carolina’s open US Senate seat, according to the latest Carolina Journal Poll of 600 likely general election voters.
Support for Cooper, a former two-term governor, now stands at 51.5%, according to the poll conducted Aug. 9-10 by Harper Polling. Support for Whatley, a former state and national Republican Party chairman, stands at 39%. The poll has a ±4% margin of error.
Cooper led Whatley by 11.1 points when the CJ Poll asked likely general election voters about the Senate race in May. Support for Whatley increased by 0.3 points (from 38.7%) during the past three months, while support for Cooper grew by 1.7 points (from 49.8%). This is the first time Cooper has topped the 50% threshold since the CJ Poll started asking voters about the Cooper-Whatley contest.
“There’s little for the Whatley campaign to like about this poll,” said Donald Bryson, John Locke Foundation CEO and Carolina Journal publisher. “These numbers will almost certainly tighten once the campaign fully engages after Labor Day, but Whatley is starting the fall further behind than any Republican candidate would want. His overall support has barely moved since the spring, or even since last November, and Cooper currently has the stronger partisan coalition. Whatley gets 81% of Republicans, while 9% cross over to Cooper. By comparison, Cooper holds 91% of Democrats, with just 3% backing Whatley. Most concerning for Republicans, Cooper leads among independent voters by 55% to 34%. There is plenty of campaign left, but Whatley clearly has ground to make up.”
The race for a seat on North Carolina’s Supreme Court shows incumbent Democrat Anita Earls holding a 3.6-point lead over Republican challenger Sarah Stevens. While 43.3% of voters back Earls, 39.7% support Stevens. The race has tightened slightly since May, when Earls held a 5.7-point lead (41.3-35.6%).
Democrats continue to hold advantages when asked about voters’ support for the two major parties in both congressional (48.8-43.5%) and legislative (48-42.6%) races. The Democratic Party has seen an advantage in the “generic ballot” in each Carolina Journal Poll this year.
In addition to Election Day and mail-in balloting, voters can cast ballots this fall during 17 early voting days. A plurality (45.3%) of those surveyed support maintaining the same number of early voting days in the future. Some 7.3% support getting rid of early voting days entirely and 15.2% support cutting the current number, while 28.8% indicate they would support more early voting days.
More than two-thirds (67.3%) of those polled would support a state constitutional amendment to require all voters to present photo identification before voting, not just those who vote in person. About 30% of voters oppose that amendment.
[…] Asked to choose two of 12 options for the most important issues in the 2026 election, inflation and cost of living (43.3%), Social Security and Medicare (22.8%), healthcare (22.7%), and immigration (20.2%) topped the list. […]
And ALL of Whatley’s ads are about crime. (*SIGH*)
MORE:
[…] North Carolina voters continue to take a more negative view of the nation’s direction. Just 34% indicated the United States is moving in the right direction. That’s down from 39.1% in May. Now 60.9% say they believe the nation is on the wrong track. That’s up from 57.7% in May.
President Donald Trump registers a 41.2% approval rating, compared to 56.7% disapproval. Those numbers have declined slightly since May, when presidential approval (41.5%) also trailed disapproval (56.6%) by roughly 15 points.
Gov. Josh Stein’s approval rating (47.2%) dipped below 50% for the first time this year, though his disapproval remains almost 13 points lower at 34.4%. […]
Twelve-and-a-half. Stein knocked off Mark Robinson by 14 just two years ago. Will Whatley’s deficit surpass Robinson’s? Voting starts in about two months.
Elaine Marshall’s 2010 loss to Richard Burr was the most recent double-digit defeat for a US Senate candidate in North Carolina. Elizabeth Dole‘s nine-point loss to Kay Hagan in 2008 reigns as the worst beating of a GOP US Senate candidate in North Carolina in the last 50 years. If this current 2026 lead holds or grows, Whatley is sure to take that, um, *honor* away from Mrs. Dole.
Granted, the top of the ticket looks mighty troubled. But, remember – we have some great people further down the ballot. The judicial candidates. Jennifer Balkcom, for you folks out west. Don’t let your discouragement over the big race drive you to punish some really good folks down-ballot.
If you’re worn out with Whatley, still show up for the down-ballot folks. It’s more important than you may realize.
