Summer Heat Meets Campaign Heat in the Old North State

By Michael Bitzer, Susan Roberts, and Christopher Cooper

To say that the world of NC politics has been abuzz with news in the past 24 hours is like saying "it's summer...so it's hot in the Old North State." An understatement, to say the least. 

On July 23rd, press reports started with Axios, later confirmed by other outlets, that former N.C. governor Roy Cooper has decided to run for the U.S. Senate, a major 'get' for Democrats in what is likely one of the most competitive races for the 2026 mid-term.

The next morning had Politico reporting Lara Trump was out, but Michael Whatley, RNC chair, was in, with Trump's blessing. 

This sets up what everyone had been expecting: a potential clearing of primary field on both sides (at least expected) with two titans running for a coveted open-seat election. Here's our initial "3 Big Thoughts" as we digest and think about this epic contest:

Big Takeaways from Catawba-YouGov Poll on the Principles of American Democracy

By Michael Bitzer

Much has been made about the state of our polarized and divided politics, and if anyone needs a potential case study of that environment, one could look no further than the Old North State. But what about the core ideas and principles of American democracy: are North Carolinians as divided on the fundamental concepts of our democracy as we are in terms of public policies and pure partisanship? 

The Catawba-YouGov Survey polled 1,000 North Carolinians in June about their attitudes regarding various principles of American democracy: governing authority, civic participation, and rights & liberties (the links go to the spreadsheets for each category and the crosstab data).

In doing so, I wanted to explore what the levels of importance (very or somewhat important) that North Carolinians would place on critical components to the notion of self-governance. While I wasn’t sure what would be a sufficient number to say North Carolinians agreed on these democratic principles (ideally, all principles would garner 100 percent importance), I set the bar at principles garnering 80 percent (or higher) saying it was important as demonstrating a sense of agreement. Those principles that were between 60 and 80 percent show some critical differences when it comes to democratic values and ideas. 

While there were some stark differences over key principles and ideas to a democracy, 39 of the 51 principles garnered at least 80 percent of North Carolinians saying the principle was important. Obviously North Carolinians--and particularly partisans--believe that there are a significant majority of core principles of American democracy that are important to our civic health.

However, there were some fundamental issues regarding the importance of some democratic principles: a quarter were below 80 percent of North Carolinians rating them as important, most notably among rights & liberties.