Last week PPP took to Twitter asking people who they think the most popular living person in North Carolina is. We got 14 good suggestions of folks to test and the winner is...Billy Graham. Here's how they stacked up in terms of net favorability:
|
Person |
Favorability |
% with no opinion |
|
Billy Graham |
69/14 (+55) |
16% |
|
Dean Smith |
59/9 (+50) |
32% |
|
Andy Griffith |
64/15 (+49) |
21% |
|
Richard Petty |
56/11 (+45) |
33% |
|
Michael Jordan |
59/14 (+45) |
27% |
|
Roy Williams |
46/10 (+36) |
43% |
|
Mike Krzyzewski |
49/14 (+35) |
37% |
|
Cam Newton |
37/9 (+28) |
54% |
|
Scotty McCreery |
36/8 (+28) |
56% |
|
Dale Earnhardt Jr. |
39/17 (+22) |
43% |
|
Jim Hunt |
38/23 (+15) |
40% |
|
Bill Friday |
23/8 (+15) |
69% |
|
Hugh Shelton |
12/7 (+5) |
81% |
|
Ric Flair |
12/23 (-11) |
65% |
-Graham is well respected across party lines, although he's clearly at his strongest with Republicans (86/5). With Democrats he's at 62/18 and with independents at 60/19. Graham does an impressive job of bridging the generational gap. He came out better than anyone else in the poll with both seniors and voters under 30, posting a 75/8 favorability spread with each group.
-Although well known as a liberal Dean Smith gets good marks from Democrat (64/7), Republicans (58/12), and independents (49/8) alike. Smith does better than anyone else in the Triangle, coming down at 72/6. He also ties Griffith for the best numbers among African Americans at +50 (59/9), putting him behind only Michael Jordan.
-A few months ago we asked about Andy Griffith in the context of a political poll and found that his popularity was dropping, but that may have been more a reflection of how people feel about his political endorsements than how they feel about him overall. He gets great reviews in this poll, coming out as the most popular among both Democrats (69/10) and independents (63/11). Griffith also edges out Graham to have the best numbers in the Mountains (70/7).
-Richard Petty came out as the second most popular person we tested with Republicans at 69/4. Both of the NASCAR drivers we tested did far better with GOP voters than Democrats. His 57/7 standing with independents also ranked him second with that group behind Griffith. And his 69/6 favorability in the Triad ranks him tops in that region. Petty may be the most popular person ever to lose an election in North Carolina.
Other notes:
-Michael Jordan comes out first with black voters at 76/10.
-Scotty McCreery is known to 73% of voters in the Triangle, but only 44% in the state overall. His 64/8 there ranks him only behind Dean Smith in the region.
-It says a lot about the changing population of North Carolina that 40% of voters have no opinion about Jim Hunt and 69% of voters are ambivalent towards Bill Friday. Hunt's +15 favorability spread at 38/23 is still something most anyone currently holding office in the state would take though.
Is there anyone we might have missed who you think could compete with Graham, Smith, or Griffith for most popular person in North Carolina honors? We'd be happy to look at other folks on a future poll.
Full results here
Zach Galifianakis
Clay Aiken
Jesse Helms
Terry Sanford
Posted by: Jacob | December 07, 2011 at 03:17 PM
Ric Flair should've stayed retired.
WOOO
Posted by: Joe | December 07, 2011 at 04:22 PM