HPU Poll: Gov. Cooper’s Approval Remains High Among North Carolinians

North Carolinians said they lack knowledge about the major candidates for the U.S. Senate election in North Carolina.

HIGH POINT, N.C., Nov. 3, 2022 – In a new High Point University Poll, North Carolinians gave Gov. Roy Cooper a job approval rating of 49%, while 28% said they disapprove and 24% did not offer an opinion either way.

These same respondents gave President Joe Biden a job approval rating of 33%. More than half (52%) of North Carolina residents said they disapprove of the job President Biden is doing.

About one-quarter (27%) of North Carolinians also said they approve of how the U.S. Supreme Court is handling its job while half (50%) said they disapprove.

Almost three-quarters (71%) of North Carolinians said the country is on the wrong track, while about one in five (18%) of those same respondents said the country is headed in the right direction. Only 12% did not offer an opinion either way.

The poll asked how knowledgeable people were about the major candidates for the U.S. Senate election in North Carolina for the 2022 midterm elections. About one in five (19%) rated their knowledge a 9 or 10 (using a zero to 10 scale, where 10 is very knowledgeable). While 14% rated their knowledge low at a 0 or 1.

About two in five (40%) North Carolinians said that they were very interested (rated as a 9 or 10) in this year’s U.S. Senate election in North Carolina. They based their rating on a scale from zero to 10, where 0 is not interested at all and 10 is very interested. While 11% rated their interest low at a 0 or 1.

In a list of issues, the poll asked North Carolinians regardless of who they support (Ted Budd or Cheri Beasley), which of the two candidates for the U.S. Senate, would do the best job of handling each of them. Of the issues tested, Beasley had an advantage on reducing racial tension (18% more), preserving Medicare (14% more), promoting education (13% more), providing quality health care (11% more), stopping the spread of COVID-19 (11% more), protecting Social Security (10% more), protecting democracy (9% more), standing up for North Carolina (4% more) and confirming Supreme Court justices (2% more). Budd has an advantage on fighting terrorism (14% more), protecting the U.S. from foreign threats (12% more), managing immigration (11% more), supporting veterans (7% more), reducing crime (5% more), federal taxes (5% more), improving economic conditions (3% more) and creating jobs (2% more).

This HPU Poll also asked North Carolinians regardless of whether they support Budd or Beasley, which of the two U.S. Senate candidates fit several phrases best. Of the phrases tested, Beasley had an advantage on connecting well with ordinary people (10% more), willing to work with the other party (10% more), supports American democracy (9% more), cares about people like you (8% more), smart (8% more), honest and truthful (6% more), has middle class values (5% more), will do what’s right, not what’s popular (5% more), and has North Carolina values (3% more). On several characteristics, the candidates were basically tied, such as strong leader (1% more for Beasley), takes action rather than just talking (1% more for Beasley), and good judgment in a crisis (0% difference). Budd has an advantage on understanding the economy (2% more).

When asked about how things were going in the U.S. Congress, only about one out of five (21%) of North Carolinians said they approved of the job Congress is doing. Almost three out of five (58%) said they disapproved of how Congress is doing its job.

Changing focus, the HPU Poll also asked North Carolinians whether they thought the Democratic or Republican party in Washington, D.C., would do a better job handling a series of issues. Of the issues tested, Republicans had an advantage on issues such as gas prices (13% more), inflation (12% more), the economy in general (9% more), foreign policy in general (8% more), law enforcement (8% more), energy prices (7% more), taxes (6% more), and the war in Ukraine (4% more). Democrats had an advantage on issues such as climate change (22% more), civil rights (18% more), the environment in general (17% more), health care in general (16% more), abortion (15% more), education (11% more), COVID-19 (11% more), voting rights (11% more), protecting democracy (6% more), voting integrity (6% more) and school safety (3% more).

NC residents – Country Direction (October 2022)

Do you think things in this country are generally going in the right direction or do you feel things have gotten pretty seriously off track?

Right direction – 18%

Wrong track – 71%

Unsure – 12%

NC residents – Presidential Approval (October 2022)

Do you approve or disapprove of the way that Joe Biden is handling his job as president?

Approve – 33%

Disapprove – 52%

Unsure – 15%

NC residents – Governor Approval (October 2022)

Do you approve or disapprove of the way that Roy Cooper is handling his job as Governor?

Approve – 49%

Disapprove – 28%

Unsure – 24%

NC Residents – U.S. Supreme Court Approval (October 2022)

 Do you approve or disapprove of the way that the United States Supreme Court is handling its job?

Approve – 27%

Disapprove – 50%

Unsure – 23%

NC residents – Midterm Election Knowledge (October 2022)

NC residents – Midterm Election Interest (October 2022)

NC residents – Issues and U.S. Senate Candidates (October 2022)

NC residents – Personal Characteristics of U.S. Senate Candidates (October 2022)

NC residents – Approval of the U.S. Congress (October 2022)

Do you approve or disapprove of the way that the U.S. Congress is handling its job?

Approve – 21%

Disapprove – 58%

Unsure – 22%

NC residents – Parties in D.C. Dealing with Issues (October 2022)

The most recent HPU Poll was fielded by the High Point University Survey Research Center on Oct. 19 through Oct. 26, as an online survey using a panel of respondents recruited and maintained by Dynata. Dynata sent invitations to its panel of N.C. respondents and the SRC collected responses on its Qualtrics platform. The SRC did all data analysis. The online sample is from a panel of respondents, and their participation does not adhere to usual assumptions associated with random selection. Therefore, it is not appropriate to assign a classic margin of sampling error for the results. In this case, the SRC provides a credibility interval of plus or minus 3.2 percentage points to account for a traditional 95% confidence interval for the estimates (plus or minus 3.0 percentage points) and a design effect of 1.1 (based on the weighting). The data is weighed toward population estimates for age, gender, race/ethnicity and education based on U.S. Census numbers for North Carolina. Factors such as question wording and other methodological choices in conducting survey research can introduce additional errors into the findings of opinion polls.

Further results and methodological details from the most recent survey and past surveys can be found at the Survey Research Center website. The materials online include past press releases as well as memos summarizing the findings (including approval ratings) for each poll since 2010.

The HPU Poll reports methodological details in accordance with the standards set out by AAPOR’s Transparency Initiative, and the HPU Survey Research Center is a Charter Member of the Initiative. See more information here.

You can follow the HPU Poll on Twitter here.

Dr. Martin Kifer, chair and associate professor of political science, serves as the director of the HPU Poll, and Brian McDonald is the associate director of the HPU Poll.