Poll: Cooper holds double digit lead over Whatley in North Carolina Senate race

Democrat Roy Cooper maintains a double digit lead over Republican Michael Whatley in the race for U.S. Senate in North Carolina, according to the latest polling. Cooper, the former North Carolina governor, leads Whatley, former chair of the Republican National Committee, by 11 percentage points, according to the survey of 861 registered voters in the state conducted by Elon University. "Among likely voters (those who said it is "absolutely certain" they will vote), Cooper was favored by 53%, with Whatley favored by 42%. Five percent were undecided or planned to vote for someone else," the university said in a news release announcing the results. The seat is currently held by two-term Republican U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis, who decided not to seek reelection. If Cooper were to maintain his lead and win in November, Democrats will have flipped the seat in their fight to take control of the Senate. Republicans hold 53 seats in the upper chamber of Congress. Democrats hold 45 seats, and two independents caucus with Democrats. The poll found that Cooper has higher name recognition among voters, though Whatley, who has not previously run for office in North Carolina, is closing the gap. "The North Carolina U.S. Senate race has been shaped from the beginning as a contest between a very well-known Democrat and a relatively unknown Republican," Jason Husser, director of the Elon University Poll, said in a statement. "While Roy Cooper continues to be much more familiar to voters than Michael Whatley, Whatley's familiarity among voters has increased meaningfully between March and July. Moreover, among the roughly half of voters who have heard a great deal or some about Whatley, the race becomes very close. This leads me to expect some tightening in polls over the next two months." Third-party candidates Shannon Bray, a Libertarian, and Michael Dublin, of the Green Party, had 1% and 2% support, respectively, according to the poll. The poll was conducted from July 23-31 and has a margin of error for likely voters of 5.6%. Alan Wooten contributed to this report.