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.

A new poll has found that 42 percent of North Carolinians say someone else should have U.S. Sen. Richard Burr's seat.

The Elon University Poll found that 19 percent of state residents believe Burr deserves another term in office, according to the survey of 703 state residents that was conducted Oct. 26-29.

The poll also found 29 percent of respondents said they "don't know" if Burr, a Winston-Salem Republican, deserves re-election.

Burr’s approval rating stands at 37 percent, the poll found, while 22 percent of respondents disapprove of the way he is handling his job. Forty-one percent don’t know how they feel on his job performance.

Two Democrats have formally entered the race. Secretary of State Elaine Marshall and lawyer Kenneth Lewis have filed candidate paperwork.

The poll also asked respondents for their opinions on other political figures.

U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan: 35 percent approve, 35 percent disapprove, 29 percent don’t know.

Gov. Beverly Perdue: 36 percent approve, 47 percent disapprove, 18 percent don’t know.

The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.8 percentage points.

Update: The National Republican Senatorial Committee weighed in on the poll. Expect to see this one a lot from Colin Reed, a spokesman for the committee:

In the words of Erskine Bowles just last week, 'nobody works harder or smarter for North Carolina than Richard Burr does.' It speaks to Senator Burr’s strength at home that as national Democrats struggle to recruit a strong challenger, his former opponent continues to offer nothing but praise for his hard work on behalf of North Carolina in the U.S. Senate.

And the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee issued it's own statement from spokesman Eric Schultz.

Whether it was its when he suggested a run on the banks, his hypocrisy over stimulus funding, or his inexplicable vote against justice for victims of sexual assault, it should come as no surprise that Richard Burr is the most vulnerable Republican in the United States Senate. 

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.

A national survey found that only 30 percent of Americans support forcing overweight government workers to pay more for health insurance.

The Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of 1,000 adults nationwide conducted Oct. 11-12 found that 63 percent opposed North Carolina's plan to charge overweight employees more for the state employee's health plan. The survey found 30 percent supported the plan and 7 percent were unsure.

The survey didn't provide any specifics of the plan, such as only those with extraordinarily high body mass indexes would be charged more, so a grain of salt may be in order with the survey results.

The survey also asked whether Americans favored the state's plan to charge smoker's on the plan more for insurance. Half of the respondents favored the plan, while 43 percent were opposed and 8 percent were unsure.

The survey had a margin of error of 3 percentage points.

President Barack Obama's approval is in the mid-40s, two new polls show.

The Democratic firm Public Policy Polling found a 45 percent approval rating and the conservative-leaning Civitas Institute pulled a 44 percent rating.

"North Carolina is one of the few states where Obama's standing has declined enough that he probably wouldn't win it again if the election was held today," PPP's Tom Jensen notes.

"It looks like the honeymoon is definitely ending for President Obama, said Francis De Luca, executive director of the Civitas Institute.

   Comments (13)

HOLD THE FRIES: North Carolina is about to become the second state in the nation to "tax" its state workers for being really overweight. State-provided health insurance will be more expensive for smokers and the obese. (Char-O)

HONEYMOON IN FEDERAL PRISON: Fort Bragg soldiers and central Asian women staged marriages to reap the benefits of getting hitched — citizenship for the women, better pay for the soldiers. (N&O)

HALF AND HALF: A new AP-GfK poll found that Americans are split 40-40 on health care legislation. That's great news for Democrats who believe the numbers mean opposition has dropped sharply. (AP)

Gov. Beverly Perdue is better liked in 919 than 704 or 336.

A pair of polls show her approval ratings continue to slip and a deeper look shows that Perdue's strongest aproval comes in the Triangle area. 

In the poll conducted by the Democratic firm Public Policy Polling, Perdue had a 40 percent approval rating compared to her 18 percent rating in the 704 area code that includes Charlotte. In the 336 area code which includes Greensboro, Perdue 13 percent approved or Perdue's performance.

Of course it's hard to know what to make of all this when the Civitas Institute poll shows consistent approval in Charlotte (28 percent), Greensboro (33 percent) and Raleigh (28 percent).