Cunningham crashed and burned at the end due to a cheating scandal that came up in October — basically the most damaging timing. Not at all hard to imagine that this caused a decisive two point shift.
Also, polling in 2020 overstated our performance quite substantially across the board. Arguably by more than in 2016, except in 2016 the er…
Cunningham crashed and burned at the end due to a cheating scandal that came up in October — basically the most damaging timing. Not at all hard to imagine that this caused a decisive two point shift.
Also, polling in 2020 overstated our performance quite substantially across the board. Arguably by more than in 2016, except in 2016 the error was enough to change the presidential winner. Polling frequently had Biden up by margins of +8-10 points. Yet he ultimately won with +4 points, just enough to narrowly win the battleground states.
Polling in 2022-2024 has been more accurate, and I suspect (and hope) that if there were any skeletons in Cooper's closet that they would have been brought out by now across his decades of competitive campaigns.
Tillis has done some damage, ie flip flopping on FDJT’s nominees and supporting the DOGE agenda. If Cooper runs and hits Tillis on DOGE and firing veterans from government jobs, he could win. He’s already won more statewide seats than Tillis.
Cunningham crashed and burned at the end due to a cheating scandal that came up in October — basically the most damaging timing. Not at all hard to imagine that this caused a decisive two point shift.
Also, polling in 2020 overstated our performance quite substantially across the board. Arguably by more than in 2016, except in 2016 the error was enough to change the presidential winner. Polling frequently had Biden up by margins of +8-10 points. Yet he ultimately won with +4 points, just enough to narrowly win the battleground states.
Polling in 2022-2024 has been more accurate, and I suspect (and hope) that if there were any skeletons in Cooper's closet that they would have been brought out by now across his decades of competitive campaigns.
Tillis has done some damage, ie flip flopping on FDJT’s nominees and supporting the DOGE agenda. If Cooper runs and hits Tillis on DOGE and firing veterans from government jobs, he could win. He’s already won more statewide seats than Tillis.
That makes two politicians by the last name Cunningham who have gone through scandals.
Cal Cunningham - Cheating scandal
Randy "Duke" Cunningham - Corruption scandal
To be fair, it's a common name. How many people named Smith do you suppose were involved with scandals?
William Kennedy Smith although he got acquitted quickly (and is in fact a direct nephew of JFK as his mother was one of JFK’s sisters).
Democratic State Senator Malcolm Smith
https://www.northcountrypublicradio.org/news/story/21742/20130404/smith-scandal-reverberates-through-ny-political-circles
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith
https://youtu.be/qVQzGR3a6vk?si=Rlzd9uIBw-YdIdx5
For Cal Cunningham though, his scandal doesn’t even compare to Randy ‘Duke’ Cunningham’s.
Both of them are the only politicians since the 2000’s I can think of with the last name Cunningham who have had scandals.