By Christine Zhu

NC Newsline

Attorney General Josh Stein is up 14 percent over Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson in the North Carolina gubernatorial contest, according to the latest Elon Poll.

Out of the survey’s respondents, 49 percent said they’d vote for the Democratic nominee, while only 35 percent said they’d vote for the Republican candidate. Nine percent of respondents said they were undecided.

Released Tuesday, Elon University conducted the online survey between Sept. 4 and 13 with a sample size of 800 North Carolina registered voters. It’s unclear how last week’s CNN story, revealing lewd and offensive online posts made by a user identified as Robinson, will affect future polls.

It’s the same margin as a survey released last month, in which High Point University/Survey USA found a 14 percent gap between Stein and Robinson. That poll found 18 percent of respondents undecided for the gubernatorial race.

The new Elon poll found the presidential race too close to call. Vice President Kamala Harris was favored by 46 percent of respondents, compared with 45 percent for former President Donald Trump. Four percent of respondents said they were undecided for the top of the ticket.

“In the big picture, what happens over the next six weeks in North Carolina could determine who leads the United States for the next four years,” Elon Poll director Jason Husser said in a statement. “In the small picture in which, accounting for rounding, Harris and Trump are less than 1 point apart and few undecided likely voters remain, the race down the home stretch for North Carolina’s 16 electoral college votes is now one over inches not yards.”

It’s the second of three polls planned by Elon leading up to the fall 2024 election. The polling occurred during a period with the presidential debate on Sept. 10.

There is a margin of error of plus or minus 3.74 percentage points.

Christine Zhu covers state politics and government for NC Newsline. She is based in Raleigh.