Roy Cooper Has Bad News for Trump in North Carolina

Former North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper, now the Democratic candidate for an open U.S. Senate seat, joined the MeidasTouch Podcast to discuss the state of the race and Donald Trump’s collapsing political standing in a state he narrowly won twice. The episode opens with striking data: a recent poll shows Trump’s approval rating in North Carolina at net negative 25 points, and an Elon University survey has Cooper leading his MAGA Republican opponent, former RNC chair Michael Watley, by 11 points among likely voters (53% to 42%). The conversation centers on why Trump is underwater, how Watley is tied to that decline, and what Cooper’s campaign is hearing from voters on the ground.

The Economy and the War in Iran: Voters Feel the Squeeze

Cooper argues that the root of Trump’s poor numbers is a broken promise. “The president and his administration promised that cost of living will be the day one focus,” Cooper says, “and people are saying, hey, they haven't done anything and in fact they've made it worse.” He describes meeting voters across North Carolina who are struggling with rising utility costs, housing, and grocery prices. A specific example: a teacher in Wayne County named Stephanie who “has had to change the way she buys groceries because grocery prices have gone through the roof, mainly affected by these tariffs.”