Polls

Even Republicans unhappy with NC legislature

| Tom Jensen


Header-poll-results
Raleigh, N.C.-

PPP’s
newest North Carolina poll finds that voters continue to be extremely unhappy
with the General Assembly, and oppose the budgets that have been brought forth
by both the House and the Senate.

Only
20% of voters approve of the job the legislature is doing to 56% who
disapprove. Democrats (10/64) and independents (20/63) are both extremely
unhappy with the body and even Republicans (36/40) narrowly disapprove of it
despite their party being in charge. Only 19% of voters say they support the
House’s budget proposal and just 17% support the Senate’s, with 49% and 50%
respectively being opposed to each of those.

The
budget’s just the tip of the iceberg though when it comes to legislative actions
the voters are unhappy with. Only 2% support a bill that would raise interest
rates on consumer finance loans up to $4,000 to 30%, while 68% are opposed. Just
21% support a bill that would allow guns on all educational properties and
eliminate permits for them, 66% are opposed. There’s only 18% support for a
bill that would effectively ban Tesla from selling its electric cars in the
state to 48% opposed.

What’s
most notable on all three of these issues is that even Republican voters are
opposed to the moves Republican legislators are trying to make. The GOP rank
and file is against the loan bill by a 68/5 margin, the gun bill by a 50/32
one, and the Tesla one by a 34/26 spread.

“The
Republicans in control of the legislature have moved to the right even of
Republican voters in the state,” said Dean Debnam, President of Public Policy
Polling.  “Many of the most high profile
contentious bills that have passed recently are strongly opposed by voters
across party lines.”

Pat
McCrory’s approval numbers are their lowest since he took office with 45% of
voters approving of him to 39% who disapprove. McCrory’s numbers have been
slowly trickling down. He started out in January with a +26 spread that went to
+14 in February, stabilized at +14 in March and +13 in April, dropped to +10 in
May, and has now dropped further to +6. A big reason why McCrory won so easily
last fall was a lot of crossover support from Democrats but that’s dissipating-
in April he was at 31/53 with them, now it’s 24/60.

PPP surveyed 500 North Carolina voters from June 12-14.
The margin of error was +/- 4.4%. This poll was not authorized or paid for by
any campaign or political organization. PPP’s surveys are conducted through
automated telephone interviews.

Topline results are below.  Full results, including crosstabs, can be found here.

Q1 Do you approve or disapprove of Governor Pat
McCrory’s job performance?
Approve …………….. .45%
Disapprove…………. .39%
Not sure …………….. .15%

Q2 Do you approve or disapprove of the job
Republicans as a whole are doing of running
state government?
Approve …………….. .39%
Disapprove…………. .51%
Not sure …………….. .11%

Q3 Do you approve or disapprove of the job the
General Assembly is doing?
Approve …………….. .20%
Disapprove…………. .56%
Not sure …………….. .23%

Q4 Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion
of the Democrats in the North Carolina
Legislature?
Favorable……………………………………………….. 35%
Unfavorable ……………………………………………. 47%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 18%

Q5 Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion
of the Republicans in the North Carolina
Legislature?
Favorable……………………………………………….. 36%
Unfavorable ……………………………………………. 49%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 14%

Q6 Generally speaking, if there was an election for
the state legislature today, would you vote for
the Democratic or Republican candidate from
your district?
Democrat ……………………………………………….. 48%
Republican……………………………………………… 41%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 11%

Q7 Do you approve or disapprove of the budget
proposed by the North Carolina House?
Approve …………….. .19%
Disapprove…………. .49%
Not sure …………….. .33%

Q8 Do you approve or disapprove of the budget
proposed by the North Carolina Senate?
Approve …………….. .17%
Disapprove…………. .50%
Not sure …………….. .33%

Q9 Do you support or oppose a bill that would call
for a 30% interest rate on consumer finance
loans of up to $4,000?
Support ……………… . 2%
Oppose ……………… .68%
Not sure …………….. .30%

Q10 Do you support or oppose a bill that would
allow guns on all educational properties and
that would eliminate the requirement for
permits for handguns?
Support ……………… .21%
Oppose ……………… .66%
Not sure …………….. .13%

Q11 Do you support or oppose a bill that would
effectively ban the electric car manufacturer
Tesla from selling its cars in North Carolina?
Support ……………… .18%
Oppose ……………… .48%
Not sure …………….. .34%

Q12 Do you support or oppose a bill requiring public
schools to teach cursive writing?
Support ……………… .72%
Oppose ……………… .16%
Not sure …………….. .12%

Q13 Do you support or oppose the decision to
arrest a Charlotte Observer reporter covering
the protests?
Support ……………… .12%
Oppose ……………… .67%
Not sure …………….. .21%

Q14 Do you think employers should be allowed to
discriminate against employees based on
sexual orientation, or not?
They should be allowed to ………………………… 20%
They should not ………………………………………. 71%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 9%

Q15 In the last presidential election, did you vote for
Barack Obama or Mitt Romney?
Barack Obama………………………………………… 46%
Mitt Romney……………………………………………. 47%
Someone else/Don’t remember …………………. 7%

Q16 Would you describe yourself as very liberal,
somewhat liberal, moderate, somewhat
conservative, or very conservative?
Very liberal ……………………………………………… 10%
Somewhat liberal …………………………………….. 17%
Moderate………………………………………………… 32%
Somewhat conservative……………………………. 22%
Very conservative ……………………………………. 19%

Q17 If you are a woman, press 1. If a man, press 2.
Woman ………………………………………………….. 55%
Man……………………………………………………….. 45%

Q18 If you are a Democrat, press 1. If a Republican,
press 2. If you are an independent or identify
with another party, press 3.
Democrat ……………………………………………….. 43%
Republican……………………………………………… 35%
Independent/Other…………………………………… 22%

Q19 If you are white, press 1. If African-American,
press 2. If other, press 3.
White …………………………………………………….. 75%
African-American …………………………………….. 20%
Other……………………………………………………… 5%

Q20 If you are 18 to 29 years old, press 1. If 30 to
45, press 2. If 46 to 65, press 3. If you are
older than 65, press 4.
18 to 29………………………………………………….. 14%
30 to 45………………………………………………….. 24%
46 to 65………………………………………………….. 41%
Older than 65………………………………………….. 21%

Q21 Area Code
252………………………………………………………… 11%
336………………………………………………………… 20%
704………………………………………………………… 21%
828………………………………………………………… 17%
910………………………………………………………… 13%
919………………………………………………………… 18%

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