HPU Poll: North Carolinians Respond with Approval Ratings and Generic Election Preferences
Job Approvals for Elected Officials Remain Steady, Generic Ballots Even.
HIGH POINT, N.C., Nov. 3, 2025 – A recent High Point University Poll found 1,000 North Carolinians closely divided if the 2026 and 2028 elections were held today. Their job approval ratings for elected officials are close to those measured in other recent polls.
Generic Election Ballots
Respondents were split between voting for the Democratic or Republican candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives in their district, with 40% of respondents favoring Democrats and Republicans, respectively. Five percent indicated that they would vote for another party, and 15% said they felt unsure.
For the U.S. Senate, a similar split is observed, with 40% indicating they would vote for the Republican candidate and 41% voting for the Democratic candidate. Six percent said they would vote for another party, while 14% said they felt unsure.
If the 2028 election for U.S. President were being held today, 40% said they would vote for the Republican candidate while 41% said they would vote for the Democratic candidate. Six percent would vote for another party’s candidate, and 15% were unsure.
There were similar close splits in generic votes for the North Carolina General Assembly in Raleigh. Republicans had support from 39% of North Carolinians for the North Carolina House of Representatives and 40% for the North Carolina Senate. Democrats received support from 40% of these respondents for the North Carolina House and 40% support for the North Carolina Senate.
Approval Ratings
President Donald J. Trump’s approval rating among these North Carolina residents stands at 40%, while 49% disapproved of the job he is doing as president.
North Carolina Governor Josh Stein received an approval rating from 45% of the poll respondents and a disapproval rating from 22% of the respondents. A third (33%) indicated they were unsure about how Gov. Stein is handling his job as governor.
Vice President J.D. Vance recorded an approval rate of 39% and a disapproval rate of 44%, with 17% reporting that they were unsure.
About one-quarter (24%) of North Carolina residents approved of how the U.S. Congress is doing its job. The U.S. Supreme Court’s approval rating was 35%.
The North Carolina General Assembly had a job approval rating of 34%, but nearly two in five (38%) of these respondents did not offer an opinion.
Most approval ratings were comparable to what the HPU Poll found in its 113th public poll.
North Carolina Residents – Generic Ballots (September – October 2025)
If the elections for U.S. Congress were being held today, would you vote for the [Republican Party’s candidate or the Democratic Party’s candidate] for U.S. House of Representatives in your district?
Republican – 40%
Democrat – 40%
Another Party – 5%
Unsure – 15%
If the elections for U.S. Senate were being held today, would you vote for the [Republican Party’s candidate or the Democratic Party’s candidate] for U.S. Senate?
Republican – 40%
Democrat – 41%
Another Party – 6%
Unsure – 14%
If the election for U.S. President were being held today, would you vote for the [Republican Party’s candidate or the Democratic Party’s candidate] for President?
Republican – 40%
Democrat – 41%
Another Party – 6%
Unsure – 13%
If the elections for the North Carolina House of Representatives in Raleigh were being held today, would you vote for the [Republican Party’s candidate or the Democratic Party’s candidate] for North Carolina House of Representatives in your district?
Republican – 39%
Democrat – 41%
Another Party – 5%
Unsure – 15%
If the elections for the North Carolina Senate in Raleigh were being held today, would you vote for the [Republican Party’s candidate or the Democratic Party’s candidate] for North Carolina Senate in your district?
Republican – 40%
Democrat – 40%
Another Party – 5%
Unsure – 16%
North Carolina Residents – Elected Official Job Approval (September – October 2025)
Do you [approve or disapprove] of the way that Donald Trump is handling his job as president?
Approve – 40%
Disapprove – 49%
Unsure – 11%
Do you [approve or disapprove] of the way that J.D Vance is handling his job as vice president?
Approve – 39%
Disapprove – 44%
Unsure – 17%
Do you [approve or disapprove] of how Josh Stein is handling his job as governor?
Approve – 45%
Disapprove – 22%
Unsure – 33%
Do you [approve or disapprove] of the way that the U.S. Congress is handling its job?
Approve – 24%
Disapprove – 55%
Unsure – 22%
Do you [approve or disapprove] of the way that the United States Supreme Court is handling its job?
Approve – 35%
Disapprove – 43%
Unsure – 23%
Do you [approve or disapprove] of the way that the North Carolina General Assembly in Raleigh is handling its job?
Approve – 34%
Disapprove – 28%
Unsure – 38%
Methodology:
HPU Poll 114 was fielded by the High Point University Survey Research Center on Sept. 30 through Oct. 18 as an online survey using a panel of respondents recruited and maintained by Dynata. Dynata sent invitations to its panel of North Carolina respondents and the SRC collected 1000 responses (an all-adults sample) on its Qualtrics platform. All respondents were asked two screening questions to identify them as registered voters. A total of 812 respondents identified themselves as registered voters. 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, for the all-adults sample, 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 3.1 percentage points) and a design effect of 1.04 (based on the weighting). The all-adults data is weighted toward population estimates for age, gender, race, education, and ethnicity based on U.S. Census numbers for North Carolina. The High Point University Survey Research Center (SRC) produces weights through an iterative procedure within SPSS. 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. 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.
Dr. Martin Kifer, chair and professor of political science, serves as the executive director of the HPU Poll for the Survey Research Center.
Dr. J.R. Moller serves as the staff director of the HPU Poll for the Survey Research Center.