Poll: Whatley favored, Trump overwhelmingly approved by Republicans
- Alan Wooten
- 4 days ago
- 3 min read
(The Center Square) NORTH CAROLINA – Michael Whatley is favored by 38.3% for U.S. Senate and 80.9% of respondents give approval to the job done by second-term Republican President Donald Trump, a new poll released Thursday says.
The sampling of 600 likely Republican primary voters was taken Sunday and Monday. The poll carries a +/- 4% margin of error. The survey was by Harper Polling in conjunction with the Carolina Journal, a publication of the John Locke Foundation.
Whatley, the former chairman of the Republican National Committee and the North Carolina Republican Party, was not the top choice. “Unsure” garnered 50.1% as the final week of early in-person voting ahead of Tuesday’s primary Election Day next week.
Still, he’s far and away the leader of those chosen. Don Brown polled at 7.5%, Michele Morrow 1.6% and Thomas Johnson 1%. Less than that were Margot Dupre, Elizabeth Temple and Richard Dansie.
“Michael Whatley has a clear advantage and is above the level you’d normally want to see to secure a nomination,” said Donald Bryson, John Locke Foundation CEO and Carolina Journal publisher. “But when half the electorate remains undecided this late in the game, that’s a flashing yellow light, not a victory lap. Late-deciding voters will determine whether this becomes a consolidation story or a surprise.”
The 51-day window for the primary began with absentee ballots mailed out Jan. 12. Early in-person voting began Feb. 12 and ends Saturday.
Trump polled higher than the favorable opinion (74%) of the Grand Old Party. Support for the slogan and activities to “Make America Healthy Again” was better than both at 81.1%.
Enthusiasm for the midterms, however, was a bit less at 68.7%.
On questions of favorable, unfavorable or even whether respondents knew of the politicians, U.S. Sen. Ted Budd (32%) had the best showing among Labor Commissioner Luke Farley (15.9%), Auditor Dave Boliek (13.9%), Paul Newby (13.2%), Treasurer Brad Briner (11.7%) and U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis (minus-18.2%).
Seventy-seven percent of the respondents said they identified as MAGA, meaning Trump’s slogan of “Make America Great Again.” Broken down, it was 53.4% definitely and 23.6% somewhat. There were 19.7% saying no, broken down to 5.8% no not really, and 13.9% no definitely not.
Choosing influential news and information sources – asked “Who or what sources do you trust?” – the respondents said Fox News (49.9%), followed by Newsmax (26.9%), Joe Rogan (13%), Tucker Carlson (12.8%), Megyn Kelly (9.7%), Daily Wire and Ben Shapiro (7.9%), Breitbart (6.5%), Candace Owens (5.2%), The Free Press (3.6%) and Daily Caller (1.5%). There was 32% choosing another outlet, and 9.6% unsure.
(Whatley poll continued below...)
By medium, the Republican respondents were highest in cable news outlets (43.7%) and social media (39.3%). A step back was local broadcast television news (29.8%), national broadcast television news (24.4%) and other websites (23.1%).
The rest included talk radio (16.7%), Facebook (16.1%), YouTube (14.6%), podcasts (13.4%), streaming apps (10.6%), newspapers (8.9%), social media site X (9.4%), Instagram (4.6%) and TikTok (4.5%). The unsure category got 3.6%.
The nonprofit John Locke Foundation bills its vision as “a North Carolina in which liberty and limited, constitutional government are the cornerstones of society so that individuals, families, and institutions can freely shape their own destinies.”
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Alan Wooten has been a publisher, general manager and editor. His work has won national or state awards in every decade since the 1980s. He’s a proud graduate of Elon University and Farmville Central High in North Carolina.
The Shelby Independent.
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