Editor’s note: A version of this news analysis first appeared in Steve Harrison’s weekly email newsletter, Inside Politics.
President Trump’s approval ratings have hit new lows.
But Democrat Roy Cooper isn’t going there.
Cooper, North Carolina’s U.S. Senate candidate, pretends Trump doesn’t exist. He criticizes “the federal government” or “the administration.” And he blasts by name his Republican opponent, Michael Whatley, who is Trump’s hand-picked candidate.
But he doesn’t link Whatley to the president.
It’s about the administration or the federal government, not Trump.
Yesterday, the federal government announced they want to loosen restrictions on chemicals in our drinking water. This is outrageous.
— Roy Cooper (@RoyCooperNC) May 19, 2026
As Governor, I fought chemical companies and made progress stopping forever chemicals like GenX. As Senator I will fight for clean water. pic.twitter.com/FzVPU4f3EE
I looked at four months' worth of Cooper’s social media on X, going back to the start of March. His campaign team posts regularly, often multiple times a day. I also watched videos from the campaign that his communications team attached to the posts.
Trump wasn’t mentioned in a single X post. There was only one post with a video that showed the president, from May 14.
Trump won North Carolina three times. Cooper was on the same ballot with Trump twice — in 2016 and 2020. He peeled away roughly 200,000 Trump voters to win the governorship.
The Cooper campaign apparently sees no reason to antagonize Trump supporters. The campaign instead talks vaguely around the president, almost as if Cooper were an unaffiliated candidate or even a Republican.
“[Cooper] used to run radio ads in the eastern part of the state, almost suggesting Trump supported him,” said former Republican Gov. Pat McCrory, who narrowly lost to Cooper in 2016.
So far, it’s working. Cooper has consistently led in the polls, with leads of 8 to 10 points.
Cooper’s social media is meant to amplify the campaign’s message: Affordability. And with Trump suggesting he doesn’t care about affordability and inflation (witness his now-infamous "I don't think about Americans' financial situation" remark in May), Cooper’s campaign might be counting on voters to draw their own links and contrasts.
Andrew Dunn at Longleaf Politics noted recently that Cooper’s fundraising emails are different — and hyper-partisan. They mention Trump frequently.
