Stein takes large lead in North Carolina governor’s race polls

CHARLOTTE ( QUEEN CITY NEWS ) — North Carolina voters will be part of one of the most exciting governor’s races in the country come Nov. 5.

In recent weeks, Attorney General and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Josh Stein has created a sizable 14% lead in the polls over his opponent, Republican Lt. Governor Mark Robinson.

A new High Point University poll had registered voters with Democrat Josh Stein on top of the leaderboard with 48% of the vote so far while Republican Mark Robinson had 34%. Eighteen percent are undecided.

Political experts say the margins have them paying close attention.

“The margins have been quite considerable for the race for governor here in North Carolina. I’ve been kind of surprised by that disparity, as opposed to, say, at the presidential level, which is so close in terms of its dynamics,” says Dr. Michael Bitzer, a political science professor at Catawba College. “That’s fairly unusual. We would think that the presidential would lead into the gubernatorial race and that they would kind of mirror each other. But that is not happening at this early stage of the general campaign.”

High Point University Professor Martin Kifer oversaw the survey poll. He says all of the votes are set in stone, there’s still time to sway all voters.

“What we find is that it’s split. We’ve got some questions in there that look at what we call issue ownership. So, okay, which of these which of these candidates do you trust most to resolve whatever kind of problem or issue?” Kier said. “It looks like Kamala Harris has an advantage on issues like climate change, on abortion, on traditional sort of issues like education and health care. Donald Trump, though, has an advantage on things like inflation and the economy, and national security-related things. Those are traditionally Republican owned or, you know, issues in which the Republican candidates have advantages.”

Meanwhile, election-based polling website 538 shows Stein’s separation began at the beginning of August. With the democratic national convention over, republicans are working to reamplify their voting base — and the undecided group.

Kiefer believes the poll results are consistent with what experts have seen in the past: Voters voting largely along party lines.

“In a tightly divided state like North Carolina, we’ve got every expectation that this will continue to be really close going up to election day this year,” Kifer said.

“North Carolina’s governor’s race is probably going to be the premier governor’s race in the entire country. I think a lot of money is going to be pumped into it. It could be at the end, the most expensive gubernatorial race that we have seen in this state’s history,” Bitzer said.

The Catawba professor says North Carolina had a record turnout in 2020, with 75% of voters showing up to the polls. He says it’s possible to get close to that number again if the energy and dynamics continue over the next few months.

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