HIGH POINT, N.C., March 5, 2012 – As the race for the White House heats up, President Barack Obama will be visiting Charlotte on Wednesday with an overall state approval rating hovering around 40 percent, according to the recent HPU Poll. The poll also finds that more North Carolinians approve of the way the president is handling policies related to education and Afghanistan, but more disapprove of his policies related to the economy and Iran.
Overall Job Approval
Do you approve or disapprove of the way that Barack Obama is handling his job as president?
Approve – 42 percent
Disapprove – 52 percent
Don’t know/refused – 7 percent
Approval by Issue
Now I would like to ask you a series of questions about some other issues. For each issue I name, please say whether you approve or disapprove of how Barack Obama is handling it. [ASKED IN RANDOM ORDER]
The economy
Approve – 36 percent
Disapprove – 60 percent
Don’t know/refused – 4 percent
The U.S. relationship with Iran
Approve – 36 percent
Disapprove – 46 percent
Don’t know/refused – 18 percent
The situation in Afghanistan
Approve – 45 percent
Disapprove – 43 percent
Don’t know/refused – 13 percent
Education
Approve – 46 percent
Disapprove – 38 percent
Don’t know/refused – 16 percent
Healthcare
Approve – 37 percent
Disapprove – 57 percent
Don’t know/refused – 6 percent
“North Carolinians’ approval of President Obama’s job performance clearly varies from issue to issue,” says Martin Kifer, director of the HPU Poll. “Part of President Obama’s challenge during his visit to Charlotte will be to persuade North Carolinians that he is working hard on the economy and other issues that are important to them.”
2012 Elections
The same poll shows that a majority of North Carolinians are watching the 2012 elections more closely than they did the 2010 elections.
How closely have you followed news about candidates and election campaigns in your state and district? Have you followed them very closely, fairly closely, not too closely, or not at all closely?
Very closely – 14 percent
Fairly closely – 35 percent
Not too closely – 33 percent
Not at all closely – 19 percent
Would you say you have been following news about the elections more closely or less closely than you did in 2010?
More closely – 55 percent
Less closely – 33 percent
Don’t know/refused – 12 percent
During the past month, have you accessed the campaign website of a presidential candidate such as Barack Obama or one of his possible Republican opponents? (Based on subset of respondents who said that they are computer users – n = 343, margin of sampling error is approximately 5.3 percent)
Yes, Barack Obama – 5 percent
Yes, one of the Republican candidates – 10 percent
Yes, both – 8 percent
No – 77 percent
“The 2012 elections already are receiving a lot of attention from North Carolinians,” says Sadie Leder, assistant director of the HPU Poll. “That makes President Obama’s visit an important event for his policy program, but also his reelection effort.”
The High Point University Survey Research Center fielded the survey from Feb.19-23 and Feb. 25-28. The responses came from 384 adults with landline and cellular telephones in North Carolina selected by a Random Digit Dial (RDD) method giving the survey a margin of sampling error of approximately 5 percentage points. For smaller subsamples the margin of sampling error is larger. In addition to sampling error, factors such as question wording and other methodological choices in conducting survey research can introduce additional error into the findings of opinion polls.
Further results and methodological details from the survey and can be found at the Survey Research Center website, http://src.highpoint.edu/, or from Dr. Martin Kifer, the center’s director, at [email protected] or 336-841-9333.
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At High Point University, every student receives an extraordinary education in an inspiring environment with caring people.℠ HPU, located in the Piedmont Triad region of North Carolina, is a liberal arts institution with over 4,200 undergraduate and graduate students at campuses in High Point and Winston-Salem. It is ranked by US News and World Report at No. 3 among Regional Colleges in the South. Parade Magazine lists HPU in the top 25 private schools in the nation. HPU was selected in the 2010-2011 list of “Colleges of Distinction,” as well as one of the top green schools in the country by the Sierra Club. The university offers 44 undergraduate majors, 40 undergraduate minors and 10 graduate degree programs. It is a member of the NCAA, Division I and the Big South Conference. Visit High Point University on the Web at highpoint.edu.
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Pam Haynes
Communication Specialist
336-841-9055
[email protected]