Political action committees on both sides of the spectrum are already gearing up for campaign battles, spending millions of dollars in preparation for the eight statewide elections coming later this year in North Carolina.
The GOP’s outside funding over the last few months has more than doubled Democrats’ outside support, $5.7 million to $2.6 million, according to an article published last month by Roll Call, a political news site.
Mitch Kokai, a political analyst at the right-leaning John Locke Foundation, said North Carolina’s status as a swing state attracts a large amount of money during election season.
But he said inflation might skew the numbers, making them appear unrealistically high compared to previous years.
John Davis, an N.C. political analyst, said in a recent report the bulk of PAC money supports negative campaign ads.
Americans for Prosperity, an organization funded by the conservative Koch brothers, has already launched a negative ad campaign targeting U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.), who is up for re-election this year.
Tom Jensen, director of the left-leaning Public Policy Polling, said Hagan’s ratings have fluctuated throughout the past six months.
“Hagan got her lead up about 15 points this summer during the legislative session, but that totally fell apart after Obamacare,” Jensen said.
According to a PPP report, Hagan’s disapproval rating was 39 percent last September, but it rose to 49 percent by November and stayed the same in December. Her approval rating has also stayed level, hovering around 43 percent.
