A new poll shows Roy Cooper ahead in 2010.

The survey by Democratic firm Public Policy Polling showed the Democratic attorney general with 41 percent support over Republican Sen. Richard Burr, who had 37 percent.

Cooper has not yet said whether he will run, but he is widely considered the frontrunner among potential Democratic candidates. A recent Civitas poll found Cooper leading Burr 41-38.

The poll also found Burr had a 35/31 percent favorable/unfavorable rating, compared to 41/20 for Cooper.

"If Roy Cooper enters the race for US Senate this race automatically becomes a tossup, if not even slightly Democratic leaning," said president Dean Debnam in a statement.

The poll also found Burr leading Democratic Rep. Mike McIntyre, 39-34.

The automated survey of 979 registered voters was taken from April 8-11. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.

* Burlington Times-News reporter Barry Smith notes that Republican leaders want better testing, merit pay for teachers, more voc ed and an end to the charter school cap.

* WUNC radio reporter Laura Leslie writes about a proposal to give parents the choice of letting their children learn abstinence-only or comprehensive sex ed.

* Asheville Citizen-Times reporter Jordan Schrader notes a good line from schools Superintendent June Atkinson at the same press conference.

* Conservative Civitas think tank introduces a new legislative tracking feature— "Bad Bill of the Week" — and highlights Sen. Julia Boseman's private dick/peeping tom bill.

Sen. Hillary Clinton and Rudy Giuliani led their parties in a recent poll.

The Civitas Institute's monthly DecisionMaker poll showed Clinton widening her lead in the Democratic presidential primary in North Carolina.

The New York senator had 31 percent, followed by a tie at 18 percent between Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois and former senator John Edwards. Nineteen percent were not sure.

Among Republicans, former Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee ceded the top spot to the former mayor of New York City. Giuliani led with 21 percent, followed by Thompson at 19 percent and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney at 16 percent.

Twenty four percent were not sure.

The poll of 800 likely voters was taken by Tel Opinion Research between Oct. 9 through 14. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.7 percent.

Fred Thompson is tied with Rudy Giuliani among state Republicans.

According to a June survey by the conservative Civitas Institute, the former Tennessee senator and the former New York City mayor were neck and neck at 24 percent.

Sen. John McCain came in third, with 16 percent, while former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney came in last, with 6 percent.

A previous survey by a Democratic firm showed Thompson with a more commanding lead.

The poll also showed former Sen. John Edwards in the lead among Democrats at 25 percent, followed by Sen. Hillary Clinton at 20 percent and Sen. Barack Obama at 18 percent.

The survey of 800 active voters was conducted June 13-15. It has a margin of error of 3.7 percent.

Fifty-seven percent of North Carolinians disapprove of President Bush, according to a recent poll.

The Civitas Institute's May DecisionMaker poll found a high disapproval rating for George W. Bush, including 43 percent who "strongly disapprove" of his performance.

Among those polled, 36 percent felt the recent troop surge in Iraq is "making things worse," while 34 percent said it was "not making much difference." Only 19 percent said it was "improving the situation."

In addition, 60 percent said they agreed with Bush's statement that "we are in a global war with Islamic radicals who are committed to killing Americans wherever they can be found." Only 28 percent disagreed.

Congressional Democrats also fared poorly. Only about a quarter thought investigations were being done for "ethics and oversight," while 59 percent said it was "just to gain political advantage."

The poll by TelOpinion Research of Alexandria, Va., was conducted of 800 registered voters between March 13-17. It has a margin of error of 3.7 percent.

Correction: An earlier version of this post reversed the results of one question. 

Bloggers had fun with a poll from Civitas on the state budget.

After we wrote on Under the Dome yesterday that the questions were loaded, Max Borders of the Civitas Institute spoke up in its defense on Red Clay Citizen:

If pollers don't provide some context, people can't offer informed answers.  But if pollers do provide some context, the left accuses them of bias.

Speaking of the left, Rob Schofield on The Progressive Pulse took a sarcastic approach to the issue, imagining future poll questions: 

In light of the fact that mass transit has been shown to be a part of an international plot to impose a collectivist, one-world government, do you support a plan to pave all of North Carolina east of I-95?

Click "Read More" for the rest of the story. 

   Comments (0)

The Civitas Institute says it has a poll showing voters do not support the state budget.

But at least three of the questions it asked are so loaded that they aren't reliable.

As an example, Civitas' pollsters asked voters:

"The state is preparing to spend most of the $300 million in temporary taxes on more than 100 special interest projects, such as a drag racing hall of fame, a study of the horse industry in North Carolina and subsidizing a private culinary school. Do you support or oppose these expenditures?"

Not surprisingly given that framing, 84 percent of people said they oppose the spending and only 7 percent supported it.

Incidentally, the drag racing hall of fame was cut from the House budget and cut the subsidy to Johnson & Wales University culinary school in half on May 9, the same day Civitas began polling.

North Carolina’s voting citizens want the legislature to open ethics hearings of state officials to the public, a statewide poll has found.

As part of major ethics reforms last year, the legislature required that official charges of misconduct against state officials and legislators, as well as their ethics hearings, be kept secret.

The reform coalition that pressed for tighter ethics rules opposes the secrecy, but lawmakers haven’t rescinded it.

A poll last month by Raleigh’s conservative Civitas Institute shows widespread public support for opening the process, Matthew Eisley reports.

The statewide poll of 800 recent voters found that 83 percent of them believe charges of unethical behavior by legislators or state officials should be heard in public.

Nine percent endorsed the secrecy, and 8 percent said they weren’t sure, the poll found.

The Civitas poll, conducted in mid-April, had an error margin of 3.7 percent and a 95 percent overall probability of accuracy.