The streak lives on: Cooper by FIVE and SEVEN
High Point University is the latest pollster to opine on the 2026 US Senate race in North Carolina. Here’s what they found:
It’s interesting – to say the least – that they polled Likely AND registered voters. Results from Likely voters tend to have more credibility. It’s also interesting that they didn’t mention everyone who will be on the Senate ballot.
We thought it would also be interesting to check High Point’s findings in our last, most recent statewide race — the 2024 governor election.
In mid-October, High Point had Stein up by 16 points. Stein won by 14.6 points.
One big difference — at a few points in that race, Robinson was ahead in some polls. Mike Whatley has yet to lead in this race.
Some folks are trying to compare this year’s race with Whatley and Cooper to 2020’s Tillis v. Cunningham tiff. Cunningham led most polls in that race. (Tillis only led in two polls from October 1 until Election Day.) 
Everyone who paid attention to that 2020 race knows Dirtbag Thom’s chestnuts got saved by (1) the Trump endorsement and (2) the exposure of Cunningham’s extramarital activities. It also helped Thom that there was a heated presidential race going on. There is nothing like any of that to help Whatley this year.
The world his changing and just unlocking prison cells to put crimnals back on the streets to secure more votes is no longer considered prudent. In fact, it is irresponsible to the entire community. North Carolina is one of America’s top destinations for new growth and a relative clean slate for families to come here. What the state does NOT need is irresponsible leadership for the sake of winning elections. Small towns in NC are troubled with electing leadership that has little real experience with the requirements of operating small towns and often the process becomes learning by mistakes and misjudgments. ELECTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES. Learn as much as you can about the candidates. We need real leaders and not cocktail party stars. And remember that these leaders will be responsible for zoning and land use….and not by developers or land owners.