(The Center Square) – For the second time this week, new polling suggests the race for governor in North Carolina is effectively over and mainly due to a damning report from CNN about Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson.
Attorney General Josh Stein leads Robinson 51%-34% in the poll that began the day after the published report from the media giant known for a lean to the left side of the political aisle. Stein, easy winner of the Democrats primary on Super Tuesday, added the High Point University Survey Research Center analysis released Thursday to a 17-point poll lead unveiled earlier this week by the East Carolina University Center for Survey Research.
Polling for president ended in a tie. Sampling was done Sept. 20 through Tuesday with 589 likely voters. The margin of error is +/- 4.9%.
Robinson, on Sept. 19, fell victim to reporting by CNN involving a porn site chat room more than a decade ago long before he rose to viral fame on the strength of speaking to the Greensboro City Council during time for public comments.
As recently as May, Robinson was a tenth of a point ahead of Stein in a poll by the Carolina Journal. He’s lost ground since, particularly in campaign finances raised. In August, the same pollster had Stein ahead by 4.4%.
Stein would become the first person of Jewish faith to win the office. He also could be the third consecutive Democratic attorney general to ascend to governor, joining Mike Easley (attorney general 1993-2001, governor 2001-09) and Roy Cooper (attorney general 2001-17, governor 2017-present).
The governor’s office – consecutive terms could not be served until the 1977 change in the constitution – has had a Republican only three times since Daniel Lindsay Russell won the 1896 election. James Holshouser couldn’t run for reelection in 1976, Jim Martin won terms in 1984 and ’88, and Pat McCrory was only one term when he lost in 2016 to Cooper by 10,277 votes of more than 4.7 million cast.
The poll had a deadlock at 48% in the presidential race between Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump. The vice president, No. 2 in command to the Biden administration, is trying to overcome 67% of respondents saying they “feel things have gotten pretty seriously off on the wrong track,” 55% saying they disapprove of President Joe Biden, and 50% saying they disapprove “of the way that Kamala Harris is handling her job as vice president.”