New ECU poll shows fallout in NC governor’s race from Mark Robinson’s scandal
Support among Republicans for their party’s candidate for governor, Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, has dropped by 20 percentage points, according to a new poll released Monday by East Carolina University.
Among all voters polled, Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein now has a 17-point lead over Robinson.
ECU conducted the poll Sept. 23-26, days after the bombshell CNN KFile report tying Robinson to a series of offensive posts on a pornography website, including supporting slavery, peeping in a women’s locker room as a teenager and describing himself as a “Black NAZI.”
Robinson denies the allegations as “salacious tabloid trash,” and has hired a law firm but not filed any lawsuits, even amid pressure from high-ranking Republicans. In the wake of the scandal, he has lost most of his staff. Nearly his entire campaign staff quit, followed soon by half his staff at 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 governor’s race compared to its 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 poll in August 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 dropped to 63% of Republicans. Robinson used to lead male voters, but now Stein has the lead. Robinson’s support has also dropped among white voters and Black voters. If elected, Robinson would be North Carolina’s first Black governor.
Results also show Stein with support from 90% of Democrats and 48% of independent voters. Robinson has 30% of independent voters.
The poll surveyed 1,005 registered voters in North Carolina via a random sample, and polls were done by mobile phones and landline phones. The margin of error is plus-or-minus 3 percentage points.
North Carolina is still in a very tight race for president.
ECU’s poll showed former Republican President Donald Trump with a 2-point lead over Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris, 49% to 47%.
Polls before the CNN report
Two polls released just last week, conducted before the news of the posts, already had Robinson 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 women voters and independent voters.
And an Elon University Poll published last week showed Robinson trailing as well, by 14 points.
This story was originally published September 30, 2024 at 4:33 PM with the headline "New ECU poll shows fallout in NC governor’s race from Mark Robinson’s scandal."
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