Tag search result

A new poll suggests that the state budget authored by Republican legislators is very unpopular with North Carolina voters, even in the home districts of Speaker Thom Tillis and Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger.

Public Policy Polling surveyed 563 voters from across the state last week, as well as 576 voters in Tillis’ district and 527 voters in Phil Berger’s district.

Only 23 percent of voters across the state support the budget, compared to 41 percent who are opposed and 36 percent who expressed no opinion.

The GOP budget had only marginally more support in Tillis' Mecklenburg County district, with 24 percent of voters in favor and 41 percent opposed. In Berger's district in Rockingham and Guilford counties, there was 27 percent support for the budget with 44 percent in opposition.

According to an analysis by the pollsters, the budget polled as being so unpopular because Democrats and independents are strongly opposed to it, while Republicans are divided. Statewide, Democrats are against the budget by a 36-point margin (15 to 51) and independents are opposed by an 18-point spread (23 to 41), while Republicans support it by only six points (33 to 27).

Cuts to education are at the center of voter opposition to the budget. Statewide only 36 percent of voters think that it's most important to end the temporary 1-cent sales tax compared to 50 percent who think it's more vital to minimize cuts to education spending.

“Governor Perdue’s veto of the budget is likely to be a political winner for her,” Dean Debnam, the president of PPP, said in a release. “Voters agree with her that it’s more important to protect education than make a small reduction in the sales tax.”

PPP typically works for Democratic candidates, but has a reputation for accurate polls that are not biased to favor that party. The full list of questions asked by the pollsters is avaliable here.

Gov. Bev Perdue and several other Democratic Party leaders are scheduled to attend a Thursday fundraiser in Raleigh for a group that's hoping to wrest control of the Wake County school board away from the Republican majority.

The stated goal of the fundraiser for the Wake Citizens for Good Government PAC is to benefit Wake school board candidates "who support high quality public schools for all children." The PAC was formed in 2009 and unsuccessfully ran a television attack ad against Republican-backed school board candidates.

The PAC was formed by Dean Debnam, president of the Democratic-leaning polling firm of Public Policy Polling. PPP has recently conducted surveys on Wake school issues for what the firm says is a private client.

Democrats have tried to rally their base against the changes made by the Republican school board majority, including the elimination of the use of socioeconomic diversity in student assignment.

Republican Pat McCrory has extended his lead over Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue according to a new poll.

The former Charlotte mayor leads Perdue by a 49-37 percent margin, the same deficit she faced last November, according to a new survey by Public Policy Polling, a Raleigh based, Democratic leading firm.

In January, McCrory had lead Perdue by a 47-40 percent margin. Perdue has slipped in part because her support has declined among independents.

McCrory now leads among unaffiliated voters by a 44-29 percent margin.

Perdue defeated McCrory in 2008 by a 50-47 margin and is widely expected to challenge her again next year.

While Perdue's personal re-elect numbers are languishing, some of her legislative proposals are popular. Her proposal to cut the corporate income tax from 6.9 percent to 4.9 percent is supported by 48 percent and opposed by 32 percent with 22 percent not sure. Sixty-seven percent support her position opposing eliminating teacher or teacher assistants in grades K-12.

But only 30 percent approve of her job performance, while 48 percent disapprove.

The spin: “Several of Bev Perdue's most recent policy initiatives are quite popular,” said Dean Debnam, the polling firm's president. “Her challenge is figuring out how to make that translate into personal popularity for her. Right now that is not happening.”

The survey of 650 registered voters was conducted Feb. 16 -21 and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.8 percent.

Former Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory would defeat Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue in a match up, but his large lead is beginning to erode.

McCrory leads Perdue by a 47-40 margin, according to a new survey by Public Policy Polling, a Raleigh based firm with Democratic leanings. But that is a shrinking margin, compared to November, when McCrory lead Perdue by a 49-37 percent margin.

The main reason Perdue is closing the gap, is that she is improving her standing among independent voters, who like her plans to reorganize state government, according to the survey. She had been trailing McCrory by 31 points among independents but now only trails McCrory by 10 points, the poll found.

Perdue defeated McCrory 50-47 percent margin in 2008 and he is likely run against her next year. McCrory was given a prominent role in opening the House session, of leading the pledge of allegiance.

The spin: “These numbers show that Governor Perdue is hardly dead in the water for reelection,” said Dean Debnam, president of the polling firm. “She’s behind now but if she can make up five points in two months she can certainly make up another seven over the next
two years.”

The survey of 575 North Carolina voters was conducted Jan. 20-23 and had a margin of error of plus or minus of 4.1 percent.

Here is the year end North Carolina report card for North Carolina politicians.

Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue and Republican Sen. Richard Burr have shown improvement. Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan is holding steady. And Democratic President Barack Obama has declined.

That is according to survey data from Public Policy Polling, a Raleigh-based firm with Democratic leanings.

The firm looked at how Tar Heel residents viewed those four figures at the end of 2010 compared to how they viewed them at the end of 2009.

Perdue showed the most improvement, with her standing rising 17 points.

A year ago, Perdue had an approval/disapproval rating of 27/53. Now it is 35/44.

As pollster Tom Jensen put it, she has gone from “being incredibly unpopular to just somewhat unpopular.” Despite the 17-point gain, she is still six points behind the average governor elsewhere in the country, Jensen said.

A year ago, Burr's approval rating was 35/37. Today it stands at 36/34.

“Burr's name recognition went up over the course of the year as he advertised on television but two months removed form the election, voters seem to have forgotten about him already – the level of ambivalence toward him is higher than for just about any other senator in the country,” Jensen said.

Hagan has hardly moved. A year ago, she had an approval/disapproval rating of 36/44 rating and today it stands at 36/43.

“Although Perdue is generally thought of as the state's most unpopular politician,” Jensen said, “Hagan actually performs worse compared to the mean of her peers at this point.”

Obama's approval/disapproval rating has dropped in North Carolina during the past  12 months from 48/47 to 46/49.

Jensen said Obama's standing in North Carolina “is essentially identical compared to where he is nationwide.” Jensen that may seem surprising because Obama ran seven points behind in North Carolina than he did in the rest of the country in 2008. But Jensen said Obama's polling numbers are holding up better in states with substantial African-American populations such as North Carolina.
   

Republican Pat McCrory would easily defeat Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue in a rematch of their 2008 election, according to a new survey.

McCrory, a former Charlotte mayor, would defeat Perdue by a 49-37 percent margin, according to a survey conducted by Public Policy Polling, a Raleigh-based firm with Democratic leanings. (Perdue defeated McCrory by a 50 to 47 percent margin in 2008.)

Perdue also trails N.C. Republican Chairman Tom Fetzer by a 42-40 percent margin, according to the poll..

Perdue, a Democrat, trails the Republicans because she has poor job approval ratings. Only 33 percent approve of the job she is doing while 49 percent disapprove, the poll found. While most people have forgotten who McCrory is, those who do remember him have a positive view. He is viewed favorably by 34 percent and unfavorably by only 20 percent.

Perdue has really lost ground among independents. She trailed McCrory by 7 percent among independents in 2008 in PPP's final poll, but now trails him by a 58-27 percent margin among independents.

The spin: Dean Debnam, president of the polling firm: “2012 is a long way away and Bev Perdue has plenty of time to strengthen her position. But it's clear she's going to have to pick up a lot of  ground with independents and the more conservative wing of her party over the next two years to win a second term.”

The poll surveyed 517 North Carolina voters from Nov. 19 to 21. the survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.3 percent points.

Call Attorney General Roy Cooper the Teflon man.

Despite all the problems with the state's crime lab, Cooper is still the most popular figure among North Carolina political figures, according to an analysis of polling data by Public Policy Polling, a Democratic leaning polling firm based in Raleigh

In rankings of popularity, it is Cooper, Republican Sen. Richard Burr, Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan, Gov. Bev. Perdue, and President Barack Obama.

The polling firm found that 31 percent approve of the job that Cooper is doing and 19 disapprove for a positive spread of 12.

Burr was approved by 47 percent but disapproved of by 38 percent for a spread of 9 points..

Hagan's job approval was 35 percent and disapproval was 50 percent, for a negative spread of 15 points, followed by Perdue with an approval of 35 percent and a disapproval of 51 percent with a spread of minus 16 points. Obama had an approval of 39 percent and a disapproval of 57 percent or a spread of minus 18 points.

The spin: Tom Jensen: “The 50 percent with no opinion of Cooper is a strong reminder that the average voter pays no attention to the Council of State. That's been part of the problem for Elaine Marshall's Senate campaign, as she too has been plagued by low name recognition.”

Is Gov. Bev Perdue pulling down Democratic legislative candidates?

Democratic pollster Dean Debnam thinks so, but the governor's folks beg to disagree.

A new survey by Public Policy Polling shows Perdue with an approval rating of 35 percent and a disapproval rating of 51 percent – up slightly from August when she had an approval rating of 30 percent and a disapproval rating of 52 percent.

This comes at a time when PPP finds that Democratic legislative candidates are generically trailing Republicans by a 50 to 42 margin.

“It's not a coincidence that Bev Perdue continues to be extremely unpopular and voters are generally leaning toward supporting Republicans for the legislature,” writes Debnam, the president of the Raleigh-based Democratic polling firm.

“If voters don't like the person in the governor's office that tends to make it hard on their party's candidates. But Democrats in North Carolina have a long history of winning in very tough districts and if that continues this year it will be very close as to which party gets control of the House and Senate,” Debnam writes.

That, as you might imagine, did not sit well with the governor's office

Pearse Edwards, a senior advisor to the governor, fired back.

“We believe your analysis of these numbers is not only unfair but wrong,” Edwards wrote.

“Gov. Perdue's net job approval has improved by five percentage points since May, according to PPP's own surveys,” Edwards wrote. “Her support among Democrats has increased by 18 points.”

“Those same polls show that the support for Democrats in legislative races has remained the same,” he wrote. “Voters are not angry with Democrats. They are not angry with one party. They are angry with incumbents, period,and that anger shows in polls nationwide.”

Gov. Bev Perdue isn't losing ground.

Perdue's poll numbers have mostly been bad news since she took office. A new poll by Public Policy Polling suggests that Perdue's popularity at least isn't sinking.

PPP asked 788 likely voters what they thought of Perdue's job performance and 30 percent said they approved while 47 percent disapproved. A tiny bright spot for Perdue: in last month's PPP poll, 48 percent disapproved.

The poll had a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.

You can track poll results about Perdue and other N.C. political figures on our new Polling Central feature. Polling Central allows you to compare results from PPP and Civitas as well as track trends on our interactive graphs.

Gov. Bev Perdue has the support of 27 percent of state residents, according to a poll by Public Policy Polling.

Perdue's approval rating hit 30 percent in November, but slipped back into the 20s for the new poll, the last PPP will conduct on Perdue this year.

The poll of 593 North Carolina voters found that 27 percent approved of Perdue's performance while 53 percent disapproved. She hit a new record low with Republicans — 78 percent disapproved. Approval among Democrats has dropped from 46 percent to 41 percent in the last month, PPP notes.

"As Bev Perdue's first year in office comes to a close there's really nothing positive that can be gleaned from her poll numbers," PPP's Tom Jensen said. "Her approval rating is mired in the 20s, as it has been for most of the second half of 2009, and voters in the state don't think she's been improving her performance or that it will get any better in 2010."

The poll was conducted Dec. 11-13 and had a margin of error of 4 percentage points.