News
Major ranking moves NC’s Senate race from ‘toss up’ to ‘lean D’
According to the May 2026 Carolina Journal Poll, a survey of 600 likely voters, 49.8% of voters would support Cooper, while 38.7% would support Whatley.
News
Exclusive: NRCC polling puts Buckhout, Davis in dead heat
According to internal polling provided to the Carolina Journal, NC-1 candidates Davis and Buckhout are tied at 41%.
News
Cooper outraises Whatley in Q1, $13.8M to $5M
Former Gov. Roy Cooper has raised more than double Whatley's numbers in the first quarter and is also well ahead in polling.
News
Cook Political Report shifts NC Senate race from toss-up to lean Democrat
Cook Political Report moved North Carolina's US Senate Race into the Democratic column after labelling it a toss-up prior.
February 2026 — Whatley holds 30-point lead, 50% unsure in GOP Senate primary
More than 38% of likely Republican primary voters say they support Michael Whatley to win next week’s US Senate primary election in North Carolina, according to the latest Carolina Journal Poll. Whatley holds a 30-point lead over second-place candidate Don Brown, at 7.5%. Yet 50% of those surveyed indicated they were unsure about who they would support in...
Opinion
Carolinians start year with optimism
Nearly 90% say it is “important” that “a new Democratic governor and a Republican-led General Assembly try to reach compromise on important issues.”
Opinion
North Carolina is a state in play
Voters still making up their minds are, as a group, modestly right-of-center. That pretty much sums up our state’s electoral outcomes over the past 16 years.
Opinion
Trump dominating NC politics, as Biden tries to find a path
As of now, it’s a Trump state and a Trump Republican Party in North Carolina. Can Biden turn this around? If so, how?
Opinion
Winners still flirt with swing voters
Carolina Journal’s first post-primary survey is out. It shows our state’s 2024 general elections will be, as usual, quite competitive. That’s not to say North Carolina’s electorate is perfectly purple. It’s not. All other things being equal, Republicans enjoy a modest edge statewide of a few percentage points. As John Locke Foundation analyst Andy Jackson...
Opinion
Can Biden truly contest North Carolina?
How can the Democratic Party hope to win North Carolina’s 16 electoral votes for president next year? Yes, North Carolina has been actively contested since 2008, when it went for Barack Obama by less than a percentage point. Since then, North Carolinians have opted for Republican candidates, albeit by narrow margins: two points in 2012,...
Opinion
North Carolina Democrats on the ropes
North Carolina Democrats are facing a brutal election that could see their worst results in more than a decade, according to the latest and last Civitas-John Locke Foundation poll of the 2022 election. The poll, released two weeks before Election Day, shows Republican Ted Budd pulling away with a four-point lead. The Trafalgar Group, also...
Opinion
Why NC Republicans will outperform GOP nationally in midterms
The GOP is anticipating considerable gains in November’s midterms, but there are plenty of cracks in their façade. Poor candidates, sub-par messaging, and the Donald Trump effect are just some of the political baggage handicapping Republicans across the country. While North Carolina Republicans are far from immune from these problems, there are several signals they...
