Carter Wrenn
Gary Pearce
2 Votes!
Because of just 2 votes, North Carolina politics will be consumed – and the General Assembly will be paralyzed – by recounts and court battles over the Phil Berger-Sam Page election. This could take even longer than the six months it took to settle the 2024 state Supreme Court race between Jefferson Griffin and Justice…
Why is Cooper Up by 10?
As Paige Masten wrote in The Charlotte Observer, our statewide poll showed Roy Cooper twice as far ahead in the U.S. Senate race as did another recent poll. She noted, “In the latest poll, conducted by Change Research, Cooper leads Michael Whatley, the likely Republican nominee, by 50% to 40%. A poll released last month…
Obama 48-Trump 41
Donald Trump’s head might explode if he sees this. When we drafted our poll, the four of us wondered what would happen in North Carolina if Trump got his wish and could run for a third term in 2028 – and if Barack Obama ran too. So, we asked this question (Q 20): “If the…
Earth to Trump
The fatal flaw I saw in the first 45 minutes (my limit) of Trump’s State of the Union is that most North Carolinians don’t believe they’re living in a “Golden Age.” Yes, it’s a Golden Age for Trump, his family, the billionaires and the big corporations. Their profits are up, their taxes are down and…
Why Trump is Underwater
Most North Carolina voters have a negative view of Donald Trump just one year after he returned to the White House. “Despite winning the state narrowly three times, Donald Trump is underwater with a solid majority of voters in North Carolina,” writes Stephen Clermont of Change Research, who conducted our recent statewide poll. (Read more…
Trump Falls, Cooper Leads, Stein is Strong
We’re all drowning in polls, but still thirsting for reliable data about North Carolina voters this crucial election year. So, four of us (see below) did our own poll – an in-depth online survey of 1,069 North Carolina voters about Trump, the 2026 and 2028 elections, and a broad range of issues. We found: Trump’s…
Goosesteps
This man was face-to-face with evil, and what he saw echoes today. Richard Sonnenfeldt was a German Jew who escaped the Nazis, emigrated to the United States, fought in Patton’s Army and became, at age 22, chief American interpreter at the Nuremberg trials of top Nazis. Here’s what he wrote about them: “The mediocrity, the…
Our Jesse
Senator Jesse Helms made Jesse Jackson a political target in the 1984 Senate race against Governor Jim Hunt. Helms won, but I’m proud to say I was on Jesse Jackson’s side. Helms’ campaign distributed a flyer headlined: “Helms-Reagan vs. Hunt-Jackson.” It had a photo of Governor Hunt meeting with Jackson. The caption read: “Jesse Jackson…
Willie Horton, the Sequel
Republicans are running an old play against Roy Cooper – the “Willie Horton blitz.” The play worked when Lee Atwater, “Poppy” Bush’s hatchet-man, ran it against Michael Dukakis in the 1988 presidential race. It didn’t work when Jim Gardner ran it against Governor Jim Hunt in 1992. I get why Republicans are doing it now:…