November’s primary election is set to be one of the most contested in the nation, pitting two candidates with plenty of funding — but low approval ratings — against each other.
Incumbent Sen. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.), won her party’s nomination with about 77 percent of her party’s vote, but Speaker of the N.C. House of Representatives Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) ran an election that was much more contested, ending with about 46 percent of his party’s vote.
Now, early polls are showing the fracturing of some of Tillis’ potential support. According to left-leaning Public Policy Polling, Hagan leads with 38 percentage points to Tillis’ 36 percentage points, with a surprising 11 percentage points going to Libertarian candidate Sean Haugh. The margin of error for the poll was +/- 3.3 percentage points.
Much of the Libertarian support, the report said, is made up of disgruntled Republicans who supported Tillis’ main opponent in the primary election a few weeks ago, Greg Brannon.
The PPP report predicts that much of Haugh’s support will transfer to Tillis as November nears.
In the meantime, both Hagan and Tillis are inching towards the election day with low favorability ratings, and both are using those ratings to further attack each other in political ads.
Hagan has a 38 percent approval rating, compared to 49 percent of voters who said they disapprove of her term. Tillis has a 30 percent approval to a 46 percent disapproval rating, the report said.
Hagan and Tillis are using their millions of dollars in campaign funds for political ads emphasizing the unfavorability of the other.
Hagan’s ads focus on the legislation of the general assembly, including the cuts to education, the refusal of federal funding for Medicare, and the changing of voting laws which was accused of favoring Republican voters.
Tillis, on the other hand, connects Hagan to President Obama, who also has a low approval rating with voters.
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