North Carolinians favor Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton over Republican Donald Trump, according to a poll by High Point University released on Monday.
The numbers show Clinton with a 42/40 lead. But the survey was conducted before the firestorm that was created when a recording was released of Trump making what the Washington Post described as “extremely lewd” comments about women. The story, which the Post broke on Friday afternoon, contained audio recorded on a hot mic between Trump and Billy Bush, who was then with “Access Hollywood.”
A national NBC/Wall Street Journal poll released on Monday was taken after the audio was released and before the second presidential debate, which was held Sunday night, that showed Clinton up 14 points in a head-to-head matchup with Trump. That suggests the Trump audio is greatly extending Clinton’s lead nationally – at least while the audio is still fresh in the minds of likely voters.
In the High Point poll, Republican incumbent Richard Burr is leading Democratic challenger Deborah Ross by five points, 45/40 in the race for North Carolina’s United States Senate seat. Nine percent of respondents said they were still undecided.
As some Republican leaders have now removed their support for Trump after Friday’s audio surfaced, Burr reiterated he would continue supporting the Republican nominee in a video posted to WRAL’s Facebook page Monday afternoon.
Burr has been in the best position of Republicans running for President, Senate and Governor in North Carolina in recent polling. No North Carolina-specific polls have been conducted and released since Trump’s comments became public.
In the gubernatorial race, Democratic Attorney General Roy Cooper is leading Republican incumbent Governor Pat McCrory by seven points at 48/41.
North Carolinians prefer a Republican candidate to a Democratic candidate when asked about generic party candidates in the race for US Congress by a 45/42 margin. While likely voters in the Tar Heel state are fairly evenly split on this question, it is still likely 10 Republicans will be elected to the US House of Representatives compared with three Democrats under the current Congressional map drawn by state GOP lawmakers.
Conversely, the NBC/WSJ poll showed a preference for a Democrat-controlled Congress by a 49/42 margin.
See the full High Point University results here.
See the full NBC/WSJ results here.
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