Barely half of North Carolina voters believe that President Barack Obama was born in the United States, according to a poll released today.

Public Policy Polling surveyed 749 North Carolina voters from Aug. 4-10, and found that 54 percent believe that Obama was born in the United States. 26 percent of those surveyed said they do not believe Obama was born in the U.S., and 20 percent said they were not sure.

The survey found that only 24 percent of Republican voters in North Carolina believe Obama was born in the U.S.

The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.6 percentage points. 

Conservative critics of Obama contend he is not a natural born U.S. citizen and, therefore, not eligible to be president.

But the director of the health department in Hawaii, where Obama was born, has confirmed that Obama was born in Honolulu in 1961, as indicated by his birth certificate.

Public Policy Polling also asked those surveyed whether they consider Hawaii to be part of the U.S. - 5 percent said no, and 3 percent said they were not sure.

North Carolina legislators' salaries are far below their counterparts.

A comparison of base salaries in the 23 state legislatures that the National Conference of State Legislatures considers comparable to North Carolina shows their pay is at the bottom.

State lawmakers here have a base salary of $13,951 per year. Only Nebraska ($12,000), South Carolina ($10,400) and Texas ($7,200) give less, while Alabama and Kentucky do not have an annual salary.

The median is $24,012, the amount Alaska pays. The highest is $48,708 in Hawaii.

The NCSL divides legislatures into three categories based on the time they spend on the job, their staff size and their pay.

North Carolina falls into the middle category, where legislators spend more than two-thirds of their time on political work and have a medium-sized staff, but do not make enough to be full-time politicians.

California's full-time legislators are the highest-paid, with $116,208 as a base salary. South Dakota legislators have the lowest pay, at $12,000 over a two-year term, although 11 other states pay only by the day or week.

U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge headed to the Pacific for his winter break travels.

Etheridge, a Lillington Democrat, joined a congressional delegation for a 12-day visit to Hawaii, Guam, Vietnam, Australia and New Zealand, Barb Barrett reports.

The group received a briefing from military leaders at the U.S. military’s Pacific Command in Hawaii. In Guam, they looked at infrastructure in place to receive 8,000 Marines being moved there from Okinawa, Japan, as part of an Army restructuring.

In Vietnam, Australia and New Zealand, Etheridge met with prime ministers and foreign ministers to discuss economic development and agricultural trade issues.

The group returned Friday.