SALISBURY – A new Catawba College-YouGov survey found Democrat Roy Cooper leading Republican Michael Whatley by 12 percentage points among likely North Carolina voters in the 2026 U.S. Senate race.
Cooper received 47% support and Whatley 35% among 885 likely voters in the survey. When undecided voters who leaned toward a candidate were included, the result was 48% for Cooper and 37% for Whatley. Independent likely voters favored Cooper 48% to 28%.
The poll was conducted online from Sept. 4 through Sept. 15 among 1,000 weighted North Carolina adults. Catawba College’s Center for North Carolina Politics & Public Service wrote and paid for the survey, which YouGov administered. The college reported an adjusted margin of error of plus or minus 3.68 percentage points for the full sample and said margins are larger for subgroups. The release did not state a separate margin of error for the likely-voter subset.
The survey also found 41% of respondents approved of President Donald Trump’s job performance and 55% disapproved. Those results describe the sample but do not establish why voters chose a Senate candidate.
The latest RealClearPolitics average on Wednesday showed Cooper ahead by 8.6 points, 49.6% to 41%. Poll averages combine surveys with different dates, samples and methods, so the average provides context rather than independent confirmation of the Catawba result.
The poll arrived as national Republicans weighed where to deploy campaign resources in the final weeks. The Associated Press reported Tuesday that Republican officials were shifting attention among competitive Senate races and that retiring North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis had urged the party to focus on candidates who were leading or within striking distance.
The Catawba survey is a new, separately sponsored poll and is distinct from earlier North Carolina Senate surveys covered by NC Political News.
Sources
- Catawba College-YouGov survey release
- RealClearPolitics North Carolina Senate polling average
- Associated Press report on Senate resource decisions
Photo credit: Roy Cooper: U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Mary Junell / North Carolina National Guard, public domain in the United States. Michael Whatley: campaign-provided press photograph from the Whatley for Senate media toolkit. Images cropped and combined by NC Political News.
Editor’s Note: This article was drafted with the assistance of artificial intelligence and was reviewed and fact-checked by a member of the NC Political News editorial team before publication.