Stop Talking About the Other Guy: How Negative Campaigning Could Hand Roy Cooper the Senate - July 14, 2026

Negative campaigning might fire up the base, but in North Carolina’s Senate race it could be handing Roy Cooper the advantage. We walk through fresh data on unaffiliated voters — the state’s largest voting bloc — who are tired of being talked down to and want honest, issue‑based leadership instead of partisan warfare. Using Michael Whatley’s campaign as a case study, we show how focusing on Cooper and Trump while offering zero clear proposals leaves independents and persuadable Republicans cold. Until candidates stop telling us why we should hate the other guy and start telling us exactly what they’ll do, “Senator Roy Cooper” becomes a much more likely outcome.

What you’ll learn / Key moments

• 00:01 – Why voters are tired of campaigns that just bash “the other guy” instead of solving problems.
• 00:08 – Pew and Independent Center data on how unaffiliated voters see partisan warfare and what they actually want.
• 00:27 – How North Carolina’s unaffiliated voters will decide the midterms — and why they reject party conformity.
• 01:27 – The core problem with Michael Whatley’s issue page: lots of Cooper and Trump, zero concrete proposals.
• 02:27 – Why this messaging could turn Roy Cooper into a terrible senator for North Carolina — and what needs to change.

What you can do

If we want better representation, we have to stop rewarding campaigns that only trade insults. Share this episode with friends who care about North Carolina’s future, and start pressing every candidate — at events, on social media, and in local coverage — for specific, practical plans to tackle immigration, crime, and the cost of living. When we demand clear solutions instead of tribal talking points, we push both parties toward the kind of serious, honest debate that unaffiliated and conservative voters are looking for.

Transcript

0:01

Stop talking about the other guy. This is the Wilmington Standard daily update for Tuesday, July 14th, 2026. A Pew Research poll found that around 8 in 10 Americans say Republicans and Democrats are more focused on fighting each other than on solving problems. A study done by the Independent Center in April of this year hones this problem down to the unaffiliated voter, the largest voting bloc in North Carolina, which will decide the upcoming midterm elections. What they found is that independent voters are tired of being talked down to, crave honesty, even when it's uncomfortable. want leaders who can admit complexity and reject tribalism. In short, quote, they are rejecting party conformity in favor of practical, issue based decision making. End quote. In other words, stop bashing the other guy. Stop calling him or her a communist, socialist, or any other ist in order to instill fear or loathing. Stop trying to convince voters that America will fall into a humanist hellhole if they elect a Democrat, and that all of our freedoms will come to an abrupt end if Republicans do not stay in political power. For candidates and political parties this approach simply will not work. Independent voters hate it, and more and more persuadable Republican voters are being turned off by it. Michael Whatley’s senatorial campaign seemingly has not received this message yet. While there is some evidence Mr. Whatley’s very targeted negative ads against Roy Cooper has driven up the former governor’s negative rating, in the end, it is the candidate's own positive rating that wins elections. One look at Mr. Whatley’s issues page shows the problem. Governor Cooper is referenced 13 times. President Trump and his policies are referenced six times. Mr. Whatley’s own proposals to stop immigration, stop crime, and address high cost issues. Precisely zero. This won't work. Most Republican voters already know how big a problem Roy Cooper was when he was in the governor's office. Independent voters simply do not care. But what independent voters and persuadable Republican voters really want to know is how Mr. Whatley, not President Trump, will solve the issues that affect North Carolina residents on a daily basis. To be clear, Roy Cooper will be a terrible senator for North Carolina. But until Mr. Whatley stops trying to get people to vote against Mr. Cooper and instead turns all his energy into convincing people to vote for him, we need to get used to the idea of Senator Roy Cooper. For the Wilmington Standard, I'm Reuel Sample. Thanks for listening.