Voters are slightly more likely to vote for Republican legislative candidates, according to a recent poll.

The GOP has independents to thank, since they said they would vote Republican by a wide margin, according to the survey by Public Policy Polling.

Voters said they would vote Republican in state legislative races by 45 to 44 margin and by a 45 to 43 margin in congressional races. Republicans are faring well, despite the state's heavily Democratic registration, because independents are siding with the GOP and Republicans are more unified, PPP's Tom Jensen wrote.

Those results come one week after a Civitas Institute poll showed similar results.

The PPP poll surveyed 711 voters from Nov. 9 to 11 and has a margin of error of 3.7 percent.

Voters would rather Republicans run the show at the legislature, according to a poll released this week by the conservative Civitas Institute.

Of those surveyed, 40.7 percent said they would vote for a Republican legislator if the election were held today, compared to 37.8 percent for a Democrat. And 21.5 percent were undecided.

The poll's margin of error is 4 percent.

Civitas said it was only the second time in four-and-a-half years of polling that Republicans received more support in the poll. The previous such result was in March 2006, just after the State Board of Elections finished hearings on then-House Speaker Jim Black's campaign. The more recent poll of 600 likely general election voters was held Oct. 20 and 21, the week before the elections board held hearings on former Gov. Mike Easley's campaign.

A poll found that 43 percent of state residents approved of the job Gov. Bev Perdue was doing at the end of October, a surge of 14 points from earlier in the month.

The results were included in the Civitas Institute poll conducted Oct. 20-21, right about the time Perdue, a Democrat, was expressing outrage over a court ruling that could lead to the release of violent inmates with life sentences, said Chris Hayes, senior legislative analyst for Civitas.

The poll of North Carolina voters found that 43 percent approved of Perdue's job performance compared to 49 percent who disapproved. Another 8 percent were unsure.

Earlier in the month Civitas found that 29 percent of voters approved of her job and 63 percent disapproved. The remaining 8 percent were unsure.

The job approval is some of the first good news Perdue has seen on poll results in a long, long time.

   Comments (0)

One poll says North Carolinians are increasingly opposed to health care reform proposals advanced by Democrats.

Another poll says more than half of state residents support those proposals. A third national poll says 45 percent of Americans oppose President Barack Obama's health care plan.

Dome isn't an expert on these sorts of things, but it's a safe bet that how the questions were asked and how the polls were conducted has something to do with the difference. Here's a quick roundup of what the October polls asked and what respondents said. Percentages may not add up to 100 because of rounding.

Civitas Institute: (600 North Carolina voters) "Do you approve or disapprove of the health care plan being proposed by Barack Obama and Congress?" 49 percent opposed, 40 percent supported, 10 percent no opinion.

Elon University Poll, (703 state residents) "As you are likely aware, the public option is a health insurance option provided by the federal government...so, with this in mind, would you [support or oppose] health insurance legislation that would offer a public option?" 54 support, 38 percent oppose and 7 percent don't know.

Public Policy Polling (766 American voters) "Do you support or oppose President Obama’s health care plan, or do you not have an opinion?" 42 percent support, 45 percent oppose and 13 percent no opinion.

Support for Democratic health care reform proposals is slipping, according to a poll released by the Civitas Institute.

According to the poll conducted Oct. 20-21, just over 49 percent of 600 likely voters said they disapproved of the current plan while about 40 percent supported it. About 10 percent had no opinion.

In Civitas' September poll, 47 percent of voters opposed the plan while 47.6 percent supported it.

The poll asked: "Do you approve or disapprove of the health care plan being proposed by Barack Obama and Congress?"

It had a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

Among all the conservative politicians at the N.C. General Assembly, it appears none are conservative enough to suit Civitas Action.

The non-profit voter education group, with has ties to the conservative John William Pope Civitas Institute, released its Conservative Effectiveness Rankings for the 2009 legislative session on Monday.

Rep. Dale Folwell, a Forsyth County Republican, snagged the title of the most conservative member of the N.C. House, with a 89.8 score on the 100-point scale developed by Civitas Action. At the other end of the spectrum, Speaker Joe Hackney, a Democrat from Orange County, was awarded a score of 0.

In the state Senate, Davie County Republican Sen. Andrew Brock was rated as the body's most conservative member, with a score of 79. Three Democrats, Sens. Ellie Kinnaird of Orange, Katie Dorsett of Guilford and Martin Nesbitt of Buncombe were all scored at the bottom, tying at 2.1 on the group's scale.

Civitas Action's scale is based on the elected officials' votes on bills and amendments the group identified as demonstrative of commitment to conservative ideals as "derived from free-market economic policies, limited government, personal responsibility and civic engagement," according to the group's web site.

By that measure, the most conservative member of the state House got the equivalent of a B+, whole the most conservative senator got a C+.

UPDATE: Bill Holmes, spokesman for Speaker Hackney, points out that the Democratic leader didn't vote on 49 of the 50 bills Civitas Action graded. The speaker typically only votes to break a tie or at other points where his support is determinative, Holmes said. Sen. Vernon Malone, who died in April, also got a 0 score from the group due to his being "absent" when many of the bills came up.  

   Comments (0)

U.S. Sen. Richard Burr, a Republican, is ahead of Secretary of State Elaine Marshall, one of his potential Democratic opponents, by ten points, according to a poll by the conservative Civitas Institute.

Among those surveyed, 43.7 percent backed Burr, while 33 percent picked Marshall.

The poll, released Friday, surveyed 600 voters by live interviews on October 20 and 21 and has a margin of error of 4 percent.

Marshall and Durham lawyer Kenneth Lewis have declared their candidacy for the Democratic nomination to challenge Burr next year. Former state Sen. Cal Cunningham is considering a run.

More than 70 percent of state residents disapprove of Gov. Beverly Perdue's trip to China and Japan, according to a poll by the conservative Civitas Institute.

Perdue has been on an economic development trip. Civitas asked 600 registered voters in the state whether they approve or disapprove of spending $80,0000 on the trip.

The poll found that 72 percent disapproved, 21 percent approved and 7.5 percent were unsure.  

It's a fair guess that the results might have been different had the question not included the $80,000 figure.

The poll, which was conducted Oct. 20-21, had a margin of error of 4 percentage points.

Gov. Mike Easley, who is being called before the State Board of Elections to answer questions about his campaign finances, is disliked less than Gov. Beverly Perdue.

A Civitas Institute survey of 600 voters found that 47.5 percent had an unfavorable opinion of Easley, but 49.8 percent thought unfavorably of Perdue. The good news for Perdue is that more people said they liked her than Easley.

According to the survey, 37.2 percent said they liked Perdue while 29.7 percent like Easley.

Voters specifically singled out Perdue’s signing of a budget that cut education funding and raised taxes as a significant factor in her unpopularity.

"It shows the level of voter dissatisfaction with the current administration and its policies and that Perdue would be viewed more unfavorably than a politician under state and federal investigation," said Francis De Luca, Civitas' executive director.

The survey, which was conducted Oct. 20-21, had a margin of error of 4 percentage points.

Two surveys bear good news for Republicans looking to make an impression in next year's elections.

The conservative Civitas Institute has found that a majority of voters would go Republican in next year's Congressional races. The survey of 600 registered voters found that 52 percent would vote Republican, 29 percent would pick a Democrat and 9 percent were unsure.

Meanwhile, a poll by the Democratic firm Public Policy Polling found that 46 percent of North Carolina voters would pick a Republican in next year's legislative races and 48 percent would go with a Republican in a Congressional race. The poll found that 39 percent of voters would go Democratic in the state legislative race and 38 percent would pick go with the "D" in Congressional races. In both races, 15 percent of voters were undecided. 

The PPP survey of 683 voters from Oct. 2-4 had a margin of error of 3.8 percentage points.

The Civitas survey of 600 registered voters was conducted Sep. 29-30 and had a margin of error of 4 percentage points.