HIGH POINT, N.C., March 26, 2013 – A new HPU Poll finds that 44 percent of registered voters in North Carolina approve of President Barack Obama’s job performance while 48 percent disapprove.
The poll also finds that 50 percent of the same registered voters approve of newly elected North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory’s job performance, while 25 percent disapprove and 25 percent didn’t know or refused to answer.
Approval ratings for the two North Carolina U.S. Senators remained in the 30s with many registered voters declining to offer an opinion one way or another on them. Senator Kay Hagan received the approval of 38 percent of registered voters while Senator Richard Burr had a rating of 36 percent.
“After his inauguration, there are signs Governor McCrory has improved his standing with registered voters, but President Obama has had some trouble breaking out of the 40s in terms of approval,” said Dr. Martin Kifer, assistant professor of political science and director of the HPU Poll. “It may be that North Carolinians are giving the new governor a chance but not convinced that things are going well in Washington, D.C.”
The poll also found that a large majority – 64 percent of registered voters in the state – see the country as being on the “wrong track” rather than going in the “right direction.”
“A large majority of those polled still believe our country is headed in the wrong direction,” said Dr. Sadie Leder, associate director of the HPU Poll. “We have seen little change this year in the way that people in North Carolina feel about things. And this speaks to a continuing pessimism that has been difficult to shake.”
Registered voters – Presidential job approval
Do you approve or disapprove of the way that Barack Obama is handling his job as president?
Approve – 44 percent
Disapprove – 48 percent
Don’t know/refuse – 8 percent
(registered voters surveyed March 17–21, 2013, n = 481 and margin of sampling error approximately = +/- 4.5 percent)
Registered voters – Governor job approval
Do you approve or disapprove of the way that Pat McCrory is handling his job as governor?
Approve – 50 percent
Disapprove – 25 percent
Don’t know/refuse – 25 percent
(registered voters surveyed March 17–21, 2013, n = 481 and margin of sampling error approximately = +/- 4.5 percent)
Registered voters – Senator Hagan job approval
Do you approve or disapprove of the way that Kay Hagan is handling her job as United States Senator?
Approve – 38 percent
Disapprove – 22 percent
Don’t know/refuse – 40 percent
(registered voters surveyed March 17–21, 2013, n = 481 and margin of sampling error approximately = +/- 4.5 percent)
Registered voters – Senator Burr job approval
Do you approve or disapprove of the way that Richard Burr is handling his job as United States Senator?
Approve – 36 percent
Disapprove – 20 percent
Don’t know/refuse – 43 percent
(registered voters surveyed March 17–21, 2013, n = 481 and margin of sampling error approximately = +/- 4.5 percent)
Registered voters – Country direction
Do you think things in this country are generally going in the right direction or do you feel things have gotten pretty seriously off on the wrong track?
Right direction – 28 percent
Wrong track – 64 percent
Don’t know/refused – 8 percent
(registered voters surveyed March 17–21, 2013, n = 481 and margin of sampling error approximately = +/- 4.5 percent)
The most recent survey was fielded by live interviewers at the High Point University Survey Research Center calling on March 17–21, 2013. The responses from a sample of all North Carolina counties came from 548 adults with landline or cellular telephones. This release is based on data from 481 self-identified registered voters within that larger set of responses. The Survey Research Center contracted with Survey Sampling International to acquire this sample. The survey has an estimated margin of sampling error of approximately 4.5 percentage points for these registered voters. The data are weighted when appropriate toward population estimates for cellular and landline telephone use, age, gender and race. 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 most recent survey and past studies can be found at the Survey Research Center website at http://src.highpoint.edu/ Memos with approval ratings from the February and January 2013 HPU Polls are available at: http://acme.highpoint.edu/~mkifer/src/22memob.pdf and http://acme.highpoint.edu/~mkifer/src/21memoc.pdf, respectively.
Dr. Martin Kifer, 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.