A new poll from Meredith College released Friday contains more bad news for North Carolina Gov. Mark Robinson’s already difficult gubernatorial campaign. The poll found that CNN’s recent report that he had made inflammatory and offensive comments on a porn website before starting his political career led to an immediate drop in Robinson’s support.

The CNN story came out on Sept. 19 — right in the middle of the Sept. 17-20 period when Meredith was contacting voters. Robinson said the CNN report was untrue.

Meredith pollsters reported a vote difference between the Democratic nominee, Attorney General Josh Stein, and Robinson of about eight points, 50-42 percent, in the first two days of data collection. However, after the story broke, the gap widened to 13 percent, with Stein holding a 50 to 37 percent lead.

All told, the poll showed Stein with a double-digit lead over Robinson, 50 to 40 percent, with the CNN story turning off Robinson supporters without Stein gaining measurably. There was a sample size of 802 likely North Carolina voters and a confidence interval of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

“The CNN story clearly had an impact on voter perceptions, but Robinson’s campaign was already struggling with the Stein campaign,” Meredith Poll Director David McLennan said in a statement.

Robinson continues to enjoy support among conservative, rural and older voters, but not among other demographics.

McLennan said he expected the actual gap between candidates in November to be narrower than the current polling average.

“It’s not because the polls are wrong, it’s because some Republican or Republican-leaning voters simply won’t be able to vote for a Democrat,” he said.

The poll also confirmed North Carolina’s status as a battleground state in the presidential election, with Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump each tied at 48 percent.

Two percent of respondents said they were undecided, and another two percent said they would support third-party candidates.

This scope could be significant. In 2020, Trump won North Carolina by about 75,000 votes out of about 5.5 million cast, or 1.3 percent.

McLennan predicts that the rest of the election campaign will be about voters without party affiliation in the suburbs. Harris currently has a small lead among suburban voters, but a small shift could drastically change the outcome of the close election.

An Electoral College victory depends on North Carolina and the other six swing states. Both parties have their sights set on the state, with candidates at the top of the list and their surrogates making regular visits.

“The Trump campaign will continue to pour resources into the state,” McLennan said. “If Harris can pull through and win North Carolina, her chances of winning the presidency increase significantly.”