The first North Carolina presidential election poll conducted since allegations of writing racist and sexist posts against Republican gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson came to light has suggested that voters are not being influenced by the latest scandal.
New polling data gathered by the Independent Center in conjunction with the Bullfinch Group put Vice President Kamala Harris up by one point in the Tar Heel State (49 percent to 48), which is within the margin of error and widely in line with previous polls prior to CNN’s bombshell report on Robinson.
North Carolina then remains neck-and-neck between Harris and former President Donald Trump even as Robinson’s polling in the race for the state’s governor has stagnated; Democrat Josh Stein currently has a double-digit lead over him, according to an average of polls by FiveThirtyEight.
The CNN report covered posts made on an adult website by someone with a username tied to Robinson. The user made posts about enjoying transgender pornography, contradicting Robinson’s previous stance on transgender people, and desiring to own slaves. In one post, the user described themself as a “black Nazi.”
North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson speaks on stage on the first day of the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum on July 15, 2024 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Top staff members have quit Robinson’s campaign over a CNN bombshell report. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
In the days after the story was published, several of Robinson’s top staffers resigned. Robinson, who is currently North Carolina’s lieutenant governor, has repeatedly denied all the allegations, calling them “salacious tabloid lies.”
On Tuesday, Robinson announced that he was hiring a team at Binnall Law Group to examine the claims made by the CNN report, with the intention of combatting the allegations.
Robinson said: “I am confident that Binnall Law Group will leave no stone unturned and enable us to use every legal means to hold CNN accountable for their lies.”
Newsweek contacted the Trump campaign for more information on the poll and its activity in North Carolina.This latest poll supports the assessment of experts Newsweek previously spoke with, who agreed that Trump’s prospects in North Carolina were not entirely tied to Robinson’s fate.
Can Trump Still Win North Carolina?
Even before the Robinson controversy, North Carolina was showing signs of dipping into the blue for the first time since 2008, when it voted for Obama during his first campaign.
Initially thought a safe Republican state due to lackluster numbers for Joe Biden when he was the candidate, a revitalized Harris campaign has put significant resources into the state, prompting both Trump and his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, to put in more effort there.
North Carolina’s former governor, Pat McCrory also warned that the state was a top recipient of “transplanted COVID voters” over the pandemic from states with Democratic tendencies like California and New York.
According to McCrory, these voters are not yet accounted for in polling and could swing the election by a few points.
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