The North Carolina Governor’s race may have been close but voters in the state aren’t too divided on what the result mean: Roy Cooper got more votes, he was the rightful winner of the election, and it’s time for Pat McCrory to concede.
54% of voters in the state think that Cooper received more votes, to only 38% who think McCrory was the bigger vote winner. Similarly, 53% of voters think that Cooper was the rightful winner of the election, to only 39% who think McCrory actually won. And following from those two findings, 51% of voters think it’s time for McCrory to concede the election, to only 39% who think he should keep on fighting it.
Predictably Democrats think that Cooper won and McCrory should give it up, while Republicans think that McCrory won and he should continue to contest the results. What makes the difference is that independent voters- often closely divided or GOP leaning in North Carolina- emphatically think that it’s time for this to be over. 59% of them think Cooper received more votes to only 31% for McCrory. 58% of them think Cooper was the rightful winner to 30% for McCrory. And 58% of them think McCrory should concede to just 33% who think he should keep going.
Voters are especially emphatic in their feeling that the General Assembly should not get involved with the results of the Governor’s election. Only 27% think they should pick the winner, to 51% who think they should keep out of it. Even Republicans only narrowly (38/36) think the legislature should get involved and independents (16/57) and Democrats (23/60) are both overwhelmingly opposed to their doing so.
The way he’s dragging this out could hurt Pat McCrory’s ability to make a comeback further down the line. 39% of voters say his refusal to concede makes them less likely to vote for him in the future, to only 33% who say it makes them more likely to vote for him again sometime later. McCrory might look to the electoral history of Dino Rossi following his loss for Governor of Washington in 2004 for a sign of what happens to politicians that voters see as sore losers.
Full results here
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