Support among Republicans for their party’s candidate for governor, Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, has fallen 20 percentage points, according to a new poll released Monday by East Carolina University.
Of all voters surveyed, Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein now has a 17-point lead over Robinson.
ECU conducted the poll from September 23 to 26, days after the bombing CNN KFile report linking Robinson to a series of offensive posts on a pornographic website, including supporting slavery, peeping into a women’s locker room as a teenager and describing herself as a ‘black’. NAZI.”
Robinson denies the allegations as “salacious tabloid trash” and has hired a law firm but has not filed any lawsuits, even under pressure from high-ranking Republicans. In the aftermath of the scandal, he lost most of his staff. Nearly his entire campaign staff quit, soon followed by half of his staff in the lieutenant governor’s office, including his chief of staff.
Robinson is running for governor against Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein.
ECU poll results for Stein vs. Robinson
The ECU Center for Survey Research poll shows a major shift in the race for governor compared to the last poll just a few months ago. The new poll has Stein with 50% of the vote, compared to Robinson with just 33%.
ECU’s August poll showed Stein with only a 6-point lead, at 47% to Robinson’s 41%.
In ECU’s previous poll, Robinson had the vote of 83% of fellow Republicans. That support has fallen to 63% of Republicans. Robinson used to lead the male voters, but now Stein is in charge. Robinson’s support has also fallen among white voters and black voters. If elected, Robinson would be North Carolina’s first black governor.
The results also show that Stein has the support of 90% of Democrats and 48% of independent voters. Robinson has 30% independent voters.
The poll surveyed 1,005 registered voters in North Carolina through a random sample, and polled via cellphones and landlines. The margin of error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.
North Carolina is still in a very tight race for the presidency.
The ECU poll showed former Republican President Donald Trump with a two-point lead over Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris, 49% to 47%.
Polls before the CNN report
In two polls released last week, conducted before the news of the reports, Robinson was already trailing, but with a smaller gap.
An AARP poll showed Stein with a 10-point lead over Robinson in mid-September, with Stein leading 52% to 42%. In that same poll, conducted by the bipartisan team of Fabrizio Ward and Impact Research, Stein also led Robinson by 17% among female voters and independent voters.
And an Elon University Poll released last week also showed Robinson trailing by 14 points.
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