More polling, more resigning, more back-stabbing. (Just another day on the NC campaign trail.)
Published September 26, 2024
Long-time conservative pollster Tony Fabrizio and Democrat pollster John Anzalone have collaborated to bring us all their take on the current situation in North Carolina politics. (Their polling was done from 9/11 to 9/17 — prior to the breaking of the CNN story. AARP appears to be the client.)
Donald Trump leads Harris 48 to 46 percent when voters were asked toconsider all five candidates who will be on the ballot. When asked justabout Trump and Harris, the margin went to 50-47 percent in favor of Trump.
Democrat Josh Stein leads Republican Mark Robinson in the gubernatorial race 52 to 42 percent.
Stein is supported by 90 percent of Democrats, while Robinson has the support of 83 percent of Republicans. Stein leads by 19 percent with voters 18-49, while leading by only 3 percent with voters 50 and older. Interestingly, Robinson leads by 9 percent with white voters, while Stein leads by 71 percent with black voters. Robinson leads by 20 percent with white voters 50 years of age and older. He also leads by 3 percent with voters who do not have a college degree.
(For what it’s worth, we’re hearing Team Robinson’s internal polls currently show a 7 point lead for Stein.)
They also took a look at the race for attorney general. The survey finds Democrat Jeff Jackson leading Republican Dan Bishop 47 to 43 percent. Bishop has a five point lead among voters 50 and older, while Jackson has a 15 point lead with voters under 50.
Jackson has a 10 point lead with women, while Bishop has a 2 point lead with men. Bishop has a 16 point lead with white voters, while Jackson has a 66 percent lead with black voters. Among voters 50 and older, Bishop has a 29 percent lead with whites while Jackson has an 80 percent lead with blacks. Bishop has a ten percent lead among voters who don’t have a college degree.
The Fabrizio-Anzalone poll finds Republicans leading the generic congressional ballot in North Carolina by 48 to 47 percent.
More resigning.
We all heard about the mass resignations from the Robinson campaign. Now, it appears the quitting disease has spread to the lieutenant governor’s office. According to drive-by reports, FOUR key staffers in the lieutenant governor’s office have said they are quitting really, really soon.
More back-stabbing.
We’re also hearing that some of the quitters are leaning really hard on remaining campaign staffers and volunteers to stop trying to save the sinking S.S. Robinson. We’re hearing reports about staffers and volunteers being locked out of offices and campaign warehouses. We’re hearing reports about statements being made kinda like this one: “If you ever want to work in Republican politics again, you’ll drop it and walk away.”
Quitting is one thing. But quitting and then attempting to sabotage your former employer is seriously not cool. If you’re unhappy about how the fallout from the CNN story has been handled, it’s fine to express your displeasure by walking away.
I understand that some of these quitters knew for quite a while about serious problems that could up-end the Robinson campaign. They did a good job of keeping mum and collecting their paychecks then. They could have said something way-back-when and got Robinson to either correct the problem or back out of the race. They could have saved state Republicans and Robinson’s family from a lot of embarrassment and grief. But, instead — while things were good financially and politically for them — they said nothing. (Meanwhile, Balanced Nutrition is still lurking out there.)
We tried to tell key people in Raleigh nearly two years ago about some potential problems that could prove fatal to the man’s political career. Of course, we got laughed at and dismissed. And now HERE WE ARE.
