HIGH POINT, N.C., Nov. 1, 2012 – New results from the HPU Poll show that more registered voters in the United States would rather have lunch with President Barack Obama than Gov. Mitt Romney.
The HPU Poll, which conducted the national poll on Oct. 22-30, asked registered voters across the country, “Regardless of who will receive your vote for president, which presidential candidate, Democrat Barack Obama or Republican Mitt Romney would you rather have lunch with?” Fifty-three percent selected Obama while 39 percent selected Romney.
Sadie Leder, associate director of the HPU Poll, says that the question is related to how voters might feel about the candidates.
“These results are more evidence of trends we have seen throughout this election,” says Leder. “Voters tend to trust Gov. Romney on certain issues and view him as competent in managing the economy, but they give President Obama higher marks on personal characteristics. This is another indicator of that advantage for President Obama.”
Candidate Qualities – Registered voters
Regardless of who will receive your vote for president, which presidential candidate, Democrat Barack Obama or Republican Mitt Romney would you rather have lunch with?
In the United States (50 states):
Democrat Barack Obama – 53 percent
Republican Mitt Romney – 39 percent
Either one/don’t prefer one over the other-both – 4 percent
Neither – 5 percent
(For registered voters, n = 805, margin of sampling error is approximately 3.45 percent, percentages may not total 100 due to rounding)
The HPU Poll also surveyed a sample of North Carolina registered voters specifically. Their results mirrored national poll results.
In the North Carolina oversample:
Democrat Barack Obama – 53 percent
Republican Mitt Romney – 38 percent
Either one/don’t prefer one over the other-both – 3 percent
Neither – 6 percent
(n = 403, margin of sampling error is approximately 5 percent, percentages may not total 100 due to rounding)
The survey was fielded by the Telephone Centre, Inc of Greensboro, N.C. from Oct. 22 to Oct. 30, 2012. The responses for the National Sample came from 805 registered voters with landline or cellular telephones. The North Carolina portion of the survey comprises an oversample of 403 registered voters. In total, the Telephone Centre conducted 1,208 interviews. All respondents are contacted through phone numbers attached to state Board of Elections registration data. The Survey Research Center contracted with Survey Sampling International and Aristotle International to acquire these registered voter samples. The national portion of the survey has a margin of sampling error of approximately 3.45 percentage points. The North Carolina portion of the survey has an estimated margin of sampling error of approximately 5 percentage points. The data are weighted when appropriate toward population estimates for age, gender and race. For the national sample, which was weighted toward population estimates for gender, the population estimates came from U.S. Census estimates of the registered voting population of the U.S. For North Carolina, the population estimates for race were taken from North Carolina Board of Elections data from the week of Oct. 27. The population estimates for age and gender were taken from the U.S. Census estimates of registered voters for North Carolina. 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.
Dr. Martin Kifer, an assistant professor of political science, serves as the director of the HPU Poll, and Dr. Sadie Leder, assistant professor of psychology, serves as the associate director of the HPU Poll.
Further results and methodological details from the survey and can be found at the Survey Research Center website at http://src.highpoint.edu/.