Generally speaking, folks don't like taxes.

But North Carolinians seem divided on the question of tax fairness, according to a new poll by Elon University.

Almost half (48 percent) of North Carolina residents polled Nov. 16-19 say the current state tax system is either "not at all fair" or "not too fair." But 43 percent said they considered state taxes to be fair or "very fair."

Asked about local taxes, more than half (51 percent) said they consider them to be fair or "very fair." Less than half (42 percent) said local taxes are "not too fair" or "not at all fair."

As for the fairness of specific taxes, respondents overwhelmingly preferred alcohol taxes (24 percent consider them "not fair" or "not at all fair), retail sales tax (29 percent) and tobacco taxes (33 percent.)

The gas tax was considered "not fair" or "not at all fair" by 64 percent of those surveyed.

Elon surveyed 563 North Carolina residents, with a margin of error or plus or minus 4.2 percentage points.

North Carolinians may not know much about how the state's judges are selected. But they know they don't want to change it.

A new poll of North Carolina residents by Elon University found that 90 percent of those surveyed were either not familiar or only "somewhat" familiar with how North Carolina judges are selected. Only 9 percent said they were "very familiar" with the process.

Yet the same survey found that 69 percent said they favor continuing the process of voters electing judges to their positions. Only 20 percent said they favor a change to have judges appointed.

Elon surveyed 563 North Carolina residents Nov. 16-19. The survey had a margin of error or plus or minus 4.2 percentage points.

GRADE STIMULUS: A Goldsboro middle school was lambasted this week for its plan to award extra test points — enough to raise a letter grade — in exchange for cash contributions for the school. The lesson for students: Hard work, perseverance and positive attitude will be rewarded. And if that doesn't work, a nice crisp $20 couldn't hurt.

CHOPPED LIVER; The race for the Democratic nomination to challenge U.S. Sen. Richard Burr got lots of attention this week. Lexington lawyer Cal Cunningham is out. U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge is going for a new fence-sitting record. Two others are thinking about it. All the buzz about candidates who aren't running can't be flattering to the only two people who are: lawyer Kenneth Lewis and Secretary of State Elaine Marshall.

SHE'S BACK: Gov. Bev Perdue got a big bump in her job approval, apparently because of her refusal to release violent inmates despite a court ruling. Perdue has been hitting the public events pretty hard and making big announcements. A few more ribbon cuttings and another stand at a jail-house door and Perdue might just be liked again.

IN OTHER NEWS: Sen. Martin Nesbitt appears to have a lock on the job of Senate majority leader...The state's pension fund is beginning to recover from a financial slump...Barack Obama's campaign was the source of the tip that John Edwards got $400 haircuts.

North Carolinians appear to be a bit more satisfied with U.S. Sen. Richard Burr.

The latest survey by Public Policy Polling shows that the numbers have improved slightly for Burr, a Winston-Salem Republican who is up for re-election next year.

PPP surveyed 711 North Carolina voters from Nov. 9-11. They found that 40 percent of North Carolinians approve of the job Burr is doing, while 31 percent disapprove. That's better than the 38 percent rating Burr got in last month's poll by PPP, and 36 percent in September.

Burr leads U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge (45-35), Secretary of State Elaine Marshall (45-34), former Lt. Gov. Dennis Wicker (45-33), Chapel Hill Mayor Kevin Foy (44-32), and Chapel Hill attorney Ken Lewis (45-32).

The survey's margin of error was plus or minus 3.7 percentage points.

Is it possible that North Carolina voters aren't happy with Republican U.S. Sen. Richard Burr, but still like him a lot better than any of the Democratic alternatives?

That seems to be the message from the latest survey by Public Policy Polling, a Democratic firm that surveyed 683 voters from Oct. 2-4.

Burr's approval rating was just 36 percent. That's down slightly from last month's survey, which had Burr's approval rating at 38 percent.

But when voters were asked about possible match-ups with some of the possible Democratic candidates, Burr easily came out on top. Here's a look at what the survey found:

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The numbers are getting worse for Democratic Gov. Beverly Perdue.

A pair of polls from the left and the right show that voters are increasingly dissatisfied with Perdue, a Democrat.

Perdue's approval rating is 24 percent in the latest survey by Public Policy Polling, a Democratic polling firm. The firm says that is the lowest figure yet for Perdue, who is in her first year in office.

Likewise, the right-leaning Civitas Institute found in its poll that 29 percent of voters were dissatisfied with Perdue. The real bad news for her is that 63 percent of respondents disapproved, the first time a majority has been unhappy with the governor in the Civitas poll.

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U.S. Sen. Richard Burr's approval rating remains below 40 percent, which might ordinarily be bad news for a politician, but he's still ahead of any of his potential Democratic challengers in next year's election, according to a poll released Friday.

The approval rating for Burr, a Republican, was 38 percent, according to the survey by Public Policy Polling, a Democratic firm. In matchups against possible Democratic opponents, Burr beat:

U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge, of Lillington, by 41 to 34 percent.

Secretary of State Elaine Marshall, who officially launched her candidacy this week, and former Lt. Gov. Dennis Wicker, by the same margin of 42 to 31 percent.

Former N.C. Sen. Cal Cunningham by 42 to 30 percent.

Chapel Hill Mayor Kevin Foy by 43 to 29 percent.

Durham lawyer Kenneth Lewis by 43 to 27 percent.

The survey of 600 voters was taken Sept. 2 to 8 and has a margin of error of 4 percent.

President Barack Obama's popularity in North Carolina continues to slide.

The latest survey by Public Policy Polling found that 51 percent of North Carolina voters disapprove of Obama's job performance, while 45 percent give Obama good marks.

The survey of 600 North Carolina voters was taken Sept. 2-8, before Obama's speech Wednesday on health care reform.

The latest figures reflect a continuing slow decline in Obama's numbers in North Carolina. PPP says Obama's approval rating peaked at 54 percent in April.

The decline is found among Democratic and independent voters as well, according to PPP. The survey found that 74 percent of Democrats approve of the job Obama is doing, down from 85 percent in the spring.

The fall has been particularly sharp among independent voters, dropping from a 50 percent approval rating in April to 39 percent in the latest survey.

The survey's margin of error was plus or minus 4 percentage points.

North Carolina voters apparently would have difficulty picking their two senators in Washington out of a line-up.

That's the conclusion of the folks over at Public Policy Polling, who say that their polling in 14 different states indicates that North Carolina voters are less familiar with their senators than voters in other states.

Their basis for that is approval polling they have done of the U.S. senators in 14 states. In North Carolina, an average of 33 percent said they had "no opinion" when asked what they thought of how Sens. Richard Burr, a Winton-Salem Republican, and Kay Hagan, a Greensboro Democrat, were doing.

That figure was higher than in any of the other states where PPP has polled. Delaware was a close second, with 29 percent, followed by Colorado at 27 percent and New Jersey at 25 percent.

At the other end of the spectrum were West Virginia, where only 10 percent of voters said they had no opinion on their senators, and Virginia, at 12 percent.

Tom Jensen of PPP speculates that could be due to a number of factors, including that North Carolina doesn't keep its senators around for long and that North Carolina has become such a big state that it's hard for the senators to cover so much ground.

The numbers continue to look bad for U.S. Sen. Richard Burr.

Public Policy Polling, a Democratic polling firm, surveyed 749 North Carolina voters from Aug. 4-10, and found that only 38 percent approve of the job he is doing, while 32 percent disapprove. The rest, 30 percent, were not sure.

PPP notes that former Republican Sen. Elizabeth Dole's favorability rating in August 2007 were 48 percent. She was defeated the following year by Democrat Kay Hagan.

But PPP also notes that Burr continues to match up well against possible Democratic opponents next year. The survey found that Burr leads Secretary of State Elaine Marshall by 12 points, former state Sen. Cal Cunningham of Lexington by 15 points, Durham lawyer Kenneth Lewis by 16 points and Chapel Hill Mayor Kevin Foy by 16 points.

The survey's margin of error was plus or minus 3.6 percentage points.