The bad news keeps coming for DC political hack and Big Oil lobbyist Michael Whatley. As he launched his campaign for the U.S. Senate, new reporting revealed an overwhelming majority of North Carolinians oppose his toxic agenda of cutting millions in projects in the Research Triangle. Additionally, a majority of voters say these cuts could impact their vote next November.

Read more below on Whatley’s deeply unpopular agenda.

Axios Raleigh: A majority of North Carolinians oppose cutting federal funding for research, poll finds

Zachery Eanes | July 31, 2025

• Nearly 60% of North Carolinians oppose large-scale federal funding cuts to medical research, a new survey has found. 
• Why it matters: The Trump administration has proposed sweeping cuts to federal research funding, including $20 billion from the National Institutes of Health.
• That could have significant ramifications in North Carolina, where Duke University and UNC-Chapel Hill are among the largest recipients of research funding from the NIH.
• Zoom in: Of the survey respondents who said they oppose cutting medical research, 48% said they strongly opposed it, according to Public Opinion Strategies. 
• Many of the respondents said the cuts could affect how they vote, with 56% saying they would be less likely to vote for a member of Congress who voted for the cuts. Among self-described moderate voters, that share reaches 63%. 

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