New polling by Quinnipiac University shows a lead in North Carolina’s governor’s race for Democratic candidate Josh Stein, currently the state’s attorney general. Stein is running against Republican Mark Robinson, who is known in part for a history of controversial statements reportedly made by him. The polling was completed April 8.
With just those two candidates named for poll participants, Stein had 52 percent of the support, while Robinson finished with 44 percent. Stein still led when other candidates were named as well.
Robinson, supported by Donald Trump, has an extensive record of statements spurring alarm among many. “There’s no reason anybody anywhere in America should be telling any child about transgenderism, homosexuality, any of that filth,” he said in 2021, per NPR. “And yes, I called it filth.” He’s even questioned the well-documented, historical reality of the Holocaust. And yet somehow, Trump managed to characterize Robinson as emblematic of civil rights progress, deeming him of a level above even Martin Luther King Jr.
North Carolina currently has a Democratic governor, but the state has leaned Republican in recent presidential elections, meaning there’s precedent for statewide races going either way, in major party terms.
Robinson and Stein will face each other on ballots this November also pitting Trump against incumbent President Joe Biden for a second time, with both Trump and Biden already securing the necessary levels of support within their respective parties to secure their nominations for president. And there will also be some critical Senate races before voters, with Democrats defending or going after seats in potentially politically tough states like Ohio, Montana, Nevada, and Arizona… the last of which is where controversial Democrat-turned-independent Kyrsten Sinema is leaving office at the end of her term instead of facing likely difficult re-election prospects.
