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Trafalgar poll shows Cooper leading Whatley 48.8% to 40.9% in North Carolina Senate race

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Coverage spectrum

Covered by 3 outlets, mostly right-leaning (67%).

4 articles in total. The spectrum counts each outlet once and leaves opinion out. How we measure bias

A Trafalgar Group poll released Monday shows Democrat Roy Cooper leading Republican Michael Whatley 48.8% to 40.9% in the North Carolina U.S. Senate race, according to The Hill and The Center Square. The poll sampled 1,091 likely voters, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.9 points. The Center Square and The Washington Times report that President Donald Trump posted on social media backing Whatley and attacking Cooper, and that Trump said Cooper had the worst record on crime since Michael Dukakis, invoking the 1988 Willie Horton ad. The Center Square reports Trump's remarks as comparisons to Dukakis's 1988 presidential bid.

Headline and summary written by Mantle’s AI from the coverage below, under published rules. How this works

What happened

Key points

Each point shows who reports it, from Far Left to Far Right.

  1. A Trafalgar Group poll released Monday shows Roy Cooper leading Michael Whatley 48.8% to 40.9% in the North Carolina Senate race.

    Reported byCenter1Right1See the outletsHide the outlets
    Center
    The Hill
    Right
    The Center Square

  2. The poll sampled 1,091 likely voters on Thursday through Saturday, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.9 points.

    One outletThe Center Square· Right

  3. Trump posted on social media backing Whatley and attacking Cooper.

    One side only: the rightReported byRight2See the outletsHide the outlets
    Right
    The Center Square, The Washington Times

  4. Trump said Cooper had the worst record on crime since Michael Dukakis, invoking the Willie Horton ad.

    One outletThe Washington Times· Right

How each side tells it

Compare views

All sides present report that a Trafalgar Group poll released Monday shows Roy Cooper leading Michael Whatley in the North Carolina Senate race. The right-leaning outlets also center on Trump's attacks on Cooper and his endorsement of Whatley, while the center report stays with the poll numbers.

  • the left

    No coverage yet

    No left-leaning outlet that Mantle follows has covered this story yet. That absence is part of the picture.

  • the center

    1 outlet

    The Hill's headline reports the Trafalgar poll as a plain lead for Cooper, with no reference to Trump's remarks.

    Cooper leads Whatley by at least 7 points in new NC Senate polls
    The HillCenterAll center headlines

  • the right

    2 outlets

    Right-side headlines lead with Trump's attacks on Roy Cooper and his backing of Michael Whatley, one invoking the Willie Horton ad, or with Cooper's poll lead.

    Election 2026: Trump compares Cooper in ’21 to Dukakis in ’88, backs Whatley
    The Center SquareRightAll right-leaning headlines

The words they chose

Language to notice

Words that carry a judgement beyond the facts. Tap a highlighted word anywhere on the page to see why.

  • Left

    Has not covered this story.

  • Center0

    No loaded words in its own voice.

  • Right1

    resurrecting

In the outlets’ own words

  • Loaded verb

    resurrectingMore neutral: reviving

    The word presents an old ad as dead and brought back to life, which adds drama beyond the reported fact that the ad was referenced again.

    …the worst record on crime since Democratic presidential nominee Michael Dukakis, resurrecting the decades-old "Willie Horton" ad to boost GOP nominee Michael Whatley for Senate.

    Used byThe Washington Times (Right)

See the full language guide

See for yourself

Side by side

What each side leads with and what it leaves out. Open a side to read its headlines.

From the left

0 outlets

No left-leaning outlet that Mantle follows has covered this story yet. That absence is part of the picture.

From the center

1 outlet

Leads with

  • Cooper's poll lead
  • Trafalgar Group poll figures
  • Support across age groups

Leaves out

  • Trump's attacks on Cooper and his backing of Whatley, which the supplied text does not mention

Reported by other sides, not found in this side’s coverage.

See the headline from the centerHide the headlines
  • The HillCenter

    Cooper leads Whatley by at least 7 points in new NC Senate polls

    New polling released Monday shows North Carolina Democratic Senate candidate Roy Cooper leading Republican Michael Whatley by at least 7 points, weeks ahead of the November midterm elections. …

    Read at The Hill (opens in a new tab)

From the right

2 outlets

Leads with

  • Trump's attacks on Cooper
  • Willie Horton and Dukakis comparison
  • Trump's backing of Whatley
  • Cooper's poll lead
See the 2 headlines from the rightHide the headlines

Articles you open from here build My Mix, a private picture of how your reading spreads across the spectrum, kept on this device. What is My Mix?

The left is Far Left and Left together. The right is Right and Far Right together. Every outlet keeps its own five-point rating.

Who reported it when

How the coverage built up

  • Left

    No report yet

    From the outlets Mantle follows

  • Center

    11 hr 19 min later

    Its first report, Oct 12, 7:25 PM EDT

  • Right

    First to report

    The Center Square, Oct 12, 8:07 AM EDT

See the order the outlets reported inHide the order
  1. The Center SquareRightOct 12, 8:07 AM EDT
  2. The Washington TimesRightOct 12, 9:16 AM EDT
  3. The HillCenterOct 12, 7:25 PM EDT

Times are the ones the outlets published in their own feeds, in Eastern time. Opinion is left out.

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