US Senate candidate Cal Cunningham’s cringey kissy texts to his mistress aren’t changing voters’ minds in the North Carolina senate race, according to a recent poll. In fact, his odds of beating Republican Senator Thom Tillis actually improved.
Public Policy Polling surveyed more than 900 registered voters Sunday and Monday, two days after news of Cunningham’s sext scandal broke. The poll puts Cunningham up six points over Tillis. While Cunningham’s ratings have stayed the same since July, the poll found Tillis dropped two points as the percentage of undecided voters narrowed.
Cunningham is married with two kids. He confirmed the legitimacy of the PG-rated sexts, if you can even call them that, to the News & Observer Friday, stating he is “deeply sorry,” and takes “complete responsibility.”
In screenshots first posted to National File, Cunningham texted a California public relations strategist Arlene Guzman Todd he wanted to “roll over and kiss,” her and she was “historically sexy. Every day and night.”
Cunningham, who has so far raised more than $28 million in his bid to unseat Tillis, isn’t dropping out of the race.
The news couldn’t have been better timed for Cunningham: it came three hours after news that Tillis had tested positive for COVID-19 after attending an event on the White House lawn with President Donald Trump, who remained hospitalized with the virus.
Other than the fact Cunningham sexts like a doofus—and is even stupider for doing so in the middle of a campaign for one of the highest-stakes Senate races in the country—voters don’t really seem to care. PPP’s poll found Cunningham leading Tillis 48-42, with 11 percent undecided.
The poll found 58 percent of voters had heard the news of Cunningham’s sext scandal over the weekend, and of those 58 percent reported it didn’t change their vote.
“There isn’t a ton of room for growth for Tillis among the people who say the news makes them less likely to vote for Cunningham though- he’s already winning those people 79-10,” a summary of the poll noted. “It really is just Trump voters already predisposed against Cunningham who care about this episode- among non-Trump voters, 80 percent say it will not impact their votes with just 12 percent saying it makes them less likely to vote for Cunningham.”
The poll found former Vice President Joe Biden up four points (50-46) on Trump in North Carolina. Only 6 percent of voters surveyed reported that watching the dumpster fire of a debate last week changed their minds.
Governor Roy Cooper holds an eight-point margin (50-42) over Republican challenger Dan Forest, PPP reports.
The poll also asked voters about how concerned they were about the pandemic: 63 percent said they were “very concerned,” while 27 percent reported “somewhat concerned.” Only 10 percent said they were “not that concerned.”
Maybe the sturdiness of Cunningham’s ratings is a testimony to how polarized North Carolina voters already are, or maybe the scandal just isn’t that big a deal (although National File did post another story alleging Cunningham might have a second mistress.)
It’s unclear how National File, a right-wing news website, acquired the text messages in the first place, which appear to be from Guzman’s phone. It’s a question worth finding out, especially given the so-called scandal’s uncanny timing on the heels of Trump, Tillis, and at least a dozen other Republicans testing positive for coronavirus last week.
Follow Raleigh News Editor Leigh Tauss on Twitter or send an email to ltauss@indyweek.com.
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Ridiculous of CC.