Democrat Roy Cooper leads Republican Michael Whatley in the North Carolina Senate race by 11 points, according to the latest Carolina Journal/Harper Poll poll.
A survey released last week found that nearly half of North Carolina’s 600 likely voters said they would “definitely” or “probably” support Cooper, the state’s former two-term governor, if the election were held that day.
Meanwhile, less than 39% of respondents said they “definitely” or “probably” support Whatley. Whatley served as chairman of the RNC for nearly a year and a half before leaving last August to run for Senate.
Less than 4% of respondents said they would vote for someone else, and 7.8% said they were unsure.
The survey was conducted May 10-11 and has a margin of error of 4 percentage points.
Cooper’s lead in the polls has improved compared to a Carolina Forward survey conducted May 4-8. The former governor leads Whatley by 49% to 42% among 957 likely voters in the poll, with 9% of respondents unsure.
The Carolina Forward survey has a margin of error of 3.3 percentage points.
The winner of the race will succeed two-term Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), who is leaving the upper chamber. Tillis won both Senate races by less than 2 percentage points.
North Carolina hasn’t had a Democrat in the Senate since former Sen. Kay Hagan left Congress in 2015 after losing to Tillis. But Cooper served as state attorney general for 16 years before entering the governor’s mansion, winning all six statewide races since 2000.
The Cooper campaign also has a significant financial advantage over Whatley’s campaign. As of the end of March, Democratic candidates’ campaigns had more than $18.4 million on hand, while Republican candidates’ campaigns had more than $2.5 million, according to the Federal Election Commission.
But the Senate Leadership Fund, affiliated with Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.), announced last month it would invest $71 million to assist Whatley.
On the campaign trail, Whatley criticized Cooper’s approach to public safety as governor and his focus on issues such as agriculture and manufacturing.
Cooper, on the other hand, has been focused on affordability during his 10-month trip. According to RentCafe, the cost of living in North Carolina is 4% lower than the national average.
“We need someone in the United States Senate who puts people first, and that’s what I’m going to do,” Cooper told a crowd in Johnston County, North Carolina, last week. “I will put people over power. I will put people over party. I will put people over politics. People will be my entire focus.”
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