The Roy Cooper Michael Whatley poll now shows Roy Cooper ahead 50% to 43% in North Carolina’s U.S. Senate race. The August 2026 Carolina Forward Poll gives him a 7-point edge, a margin that leaves him in front even as the race stays live.
Roy Cooper and Michael Whatley
Cooper’s lead is built on two blocs that matter most in a statewide race. He holds a 20-point advantage among suburban voters and a 28-point lead among independents, the kind of spread that can carry a candidate beyond a narrow partisan base.
The gap also widened from May, when Cooper led Whatley 49% to 42%. That kind of movement is not dramatic, but it does show the August numbers moving in the same direction as the spring poll rather than snapping back.
The August Carolina Forward Poll
Cooper’s standing has room to grow, and room to worry his side. His favorability sits at +2, with 44% viewing him favorably and 42% unfavorably, while Whatley is at -8, with 29% favorable and 37% unfavorable.
Whatley also has a recognition problem. Seventeen percent of voters said they had never heard of him, which leaves him trying to close a name gap while chasing a deficit in the top-line ballot test.
The broader ballot picture runs the same way for Republicans in North Carolina. Democrats lead Republicans 48% to 41% in the state legislative generic ballot, and Donald Trump’s job approval stands at -14, with 42% approving and 56% disapproving. Trump was at -12 in May and -6 in January, a slide that tracks with a tougher environment for the party.
North Carolina U
Governor Josh Stein also sits in positive territory, with net approval of +6 at 48% approving and 42% disapproving, down from +16 in May when he was at 51% approving and 35% disapproving. U.S. Senators Thom Tillis and Ted Budd rate poorly with North Carolina voters, and the state legislature carries a net job approval of -23.
That leaves Cooper in the unusual position of leading a Republican-aligned field while carrying only a modest personal edge. The August 2026 Carolina Forward Poll says the race still tilts his way, but the size of that lead depends on whether suburban voters and independents keep breaking the same direction into the 2026 midterm election.
