McCrory starts out at 45%

-PPP's first Pat McCrory approval poll finds 45% of voters giving him good marks to just 19% who disapprove. His approval number is almost identical to the 43% we found for Bev Perdue the first time we polled on her in 2009, but the disapproval is a good deal lower than the 32% of voters who started out with unhappy. A big part of that is due to Democrats splitting evenly on McCrory, 26% approving and 26% disapproving. That suggests they're at least giving him a chance.

The next six months will be critical for McCrory. After starting out in a similar place, Perdue was down to a 25% approval rating by July and was never able to recover over the next four years. The success or failure of McCrory's administration may be determined in these early days.

-Reflecting the fact that most voters don't pay close attention state government 31% approve of McCrory's cabinet selections, 24% disapprove, and 45% don't have an opinion either way. His two most controversial appointees Tony Tata (14/19) and Art Pope (12/19) both have negative favorability ratings but that may be more a reflection of them being unknown than anything else. In the Triangle where they do have decently high name recognition Tata (36/23) is seen positively, while Pope (21/28) is not.

-Barack Obama's starting out his second term with a 46% approval rating in North Carolina. He was at 52% on his first approval poll in 2009 and the 46% figure reflects voters having their minds already made up and not really being willing to give him a chance to the same extent they did the last time around.

-Richard Burr continues to be one of the most low profile Senators in the country in his home state- 32% of voters approve of him and 30% disapprove, but the largest chunk of voters at 38% doesn't have an opinion about him either way.

-Apparently all the General Assembly has to do is breathe and voters don't like it. One week after convening for this year only 16% of voters like the job it's doing to 50% who disapprove. Voter unhappiness extends to both parties although the Republicans (31/48) get an even worse favorability rating than the Democrats (34/44).

-Finally Panthers fans (49% of North Carolinians identify as such) support bringing Ron Rivera back for a third season by a 56/17 margin, including 67/13 in the Charlotte region. Clearly the team's strong close to the season has fans feeling better about Rivera.

Full results here