HPU Poll: North Carolinians Respond with Approval Ratings for Officials, Government Institutions
HIGH POINT, N.C., Jan. 29, 2026 – In the latest High Point University Poll, North Carolinians gave President Donald Trump an approval rating of 41%, while 48% disapproved. In the same poll, North Carolinians gave Governor Josh Stein a job approval rating of 44%, with 24% expressing disapproval.
The poll asked respondents to provide their opinions on the job President Trump has done in handling a variety of issues. More than half of North Carolinians (51%) approved of how President Trump was handling securing the U.S. southern border.
Approximately half of respondents approved of his handling of protecting American workers (48%), national security in general (47%), gas prices (46%), voting integrity (45%), international trade in general (44%), law enforcement (43%), protecting democracy (43%), immigration in general (42%), and civil rights (41%).
Smaller proportions of respondents approved of President Trump’s handling of the economy in general (39%), LGBTQ policies (39%), education in general (38%), tariffs (36%), taxes (35%), abortion (35%), and artificial intelligence (35%).
President Trump’s approval ratings on government fraud and corruption (33%), the war between Israel and Hamas (32%), inflation (31%), climate change (31%), the war in Ukraine (30%) and the national debt (30%) were the lowest recorded.
When asked if they approved or disapproved of the way the U.S. Supreme Court is handling its job, 40% indicated they approved, while 36% disapproved. About a third of North Carolinians approved (32%) of the way the U.S. Congress is handling its job, and 48% said they disapproved.
The poll also asked North Carolinians about their views of various people, institutions and countries. Among political figures, Gov. Stein had a favorable rating of 45%, followed closely by former Gov. Roy Cooper (44%) and President Trump (43%). The U.S. Supreme Court had a 43% favorability rating, and the U.S. Congress had a 34% favorability rating.
Among North Carolina state agencies and institutions, the North Carolina National Guard had the highest favorability rating of 70%, followed by the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services at 58%, the Department of Public Safety at 56% and the Departments of Justice and Environmental Quality at 50%. The North Carolina Supreme Court and the North Carolina General Assembly both had a 45% rating.
Among countries, Canada had the highest favorability rating at 61%, while Iran had the lowest at 10%. Ukraine had a 39% favorability rating, and Russia earned the favor of only 16% of North Carolinians. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had a 34% favorability rating, while only 13% of North Carolinians had a favorable view of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had a 24% favorability rating, while his country was viewed favorably by 41% of North Carolinians.
North Carolina Residents – Presidential Approval (January 2026)
Do you [approve or disapprove] of the way that Donald Trump is handling his job as president?
Approve — 41%
Disapprove — 48%
Unsure — 11%
North Carolina Residents – Gov. Stein Approval (January 2026)
Do you [approve or disapprove] of the way that Josh Stein is handling his job as Governor?
Approve — 44%
Disapprove — 24%
Unsure — 32%
North Carolina Residents – U.S. Supreme Court Approval (January 2026)
Do you [approve or disapprove] of the way that the United States Supreme Court is handling its job?
Approve — 40%
Disapprove — 37%
Unsure — 23%
North Carolina Residents – U.S. Congress Approval (January 2026)
Do you [approve or disapprove] of the way that the U.S. Congress is handling its job?
Approve — 32%
Disapprove — 48%
Unsure — 20%
North Carolina Residents – Donald Trump Issues Approval (January 2026)
Below is a list of issues that President Trump has to deal with. For each issue, please tell me whether you [Approve or Disapprove] of President Trump’s handling of each issue. (Respondents were presented with 12 randomized issues from the list)
| Approve | Disapprove | Unsure | |
| – Securing the U.S. southern border | 51% | 38% | 11% |
| – Protecting American workers | 48% | 41% | 11% |
| – National security in general | 47% | 42% | 11% |
| – Gas prices | 46% | 42% | 12% |
| – Voting integrity | 45% | 39% | 17% |
| – International trade in general | 44% | 43% | 13% |
| – Protecting democracy | 43% | 42% | 14% |
| – Law enforcement | 43% | 43% | 14% |
| – Immigration in general | 42% | 49% | 9% |
| – Civil rights | 41% | 46% | 13% |
| – LGBTQ policies | 39% | 42% | 19% |
| – The economy in general | 39% | 49% | 12% |
| – Education in general | 38% | 45% | 17% |
| – Tariffs | 36% | 51% | 13% |
| – Abortion | 35% | 46% | 18% |
| – Taxes | 35% | 52% | 13% |
| – Artificial Intelligence (AI) | 35% | 35% | 30% |
| – Government fraud and corruption | 33% | 54% | 14% |
| – The war between Israel and Hamas | 32% | 48% | 20% |
| – Inflation | 31% | 59% | 10% |
| – Climate change | 31% | 48% | 21% |
| – The war in Ukraine | 30% | 48% | 21% |
| – The national debt | 30% | 53% | 17% |
North Carolina Residents – Favorability Ratings (January 2026)
Here is a list of people and things. Please indicate whether you have [Favorable or Unfavorable] view of each of them. (Respondents were presented with 15 randomized people and things from the list)
| Favorable | Unfavorable | Unsure/Not familiar with this person or thing | |
| – North Carolina National Guard | 70% | 9% | 21% |
| – Canada | 61% | 19% | 20% |
| – North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services | 58% | 12% | 29% |
| – North Carolina Department of Public Safety | 56% | 18% | 26% |
| – North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation | 51% | 16% | 34% |
| – North Carolina Department of Justice | 50% | 24% | 26% |
| – North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality | 50% | 19% | 32% |
| – North Carolina Department of Commerce | 48% | 16% | 36% |
| – North Carolina General Assembly | 45% | 23% | 32% |
| – Josh Stein | 45% | 27% | 29% |
| – North Carolina Supreme Court | 45% | 24% | 31% |
| – Roy Cooper | 44% | 34% | 22% |
| – North Carolina Department of Revenue | 44% | 25% | 30% |
| – Donald Trump | 43% | 47% | 10% |
| – The US Supreme Court | 43% | 40% | 17% |
| – Israel | 41% | 34% | 25% |
| – Ukraine | 39% | 35% | 26% |
| – North Carolina Department of Public Instruction | 39% | 25% | 35% |
| – Mexico | 38% | 40% | 22% |
| – Joe Biden | 36% | 56% | 8% |
| – The U.S. Congress | 35% | 50% | 15% |
| – Volodymyr Zelensky | 34% | 30% | 36% |
| – Venezuela | 27% | 43% | 30% |
| – Benjamin Netanyahu | 24% | 32% | 44% |
| – Michael Whatley | 23% | 20% | 56% |
| – China | 20% | 58% | 22% |
| – Russia | 16% | 64% | 20% |
| – Vladimir Putin | 13% | 70% | 18% |
| – North Korea | 11% | 70% | 19% |
| – Iran | 10% | 68% | 22% |
Methodology:
HPU Poll 117 was fielded by the High Point University Survey Research Center (SRC) on Jan. 9 through Jan. 21, as an online survey using a panel of respondents recruited and maintained by Kantar. Kantar sent invitations to its panel of North Carolina respondents and the SRC collected 1,000 responses (an all-adults sample) 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, for the all-adults sample, the SRC provides a credibility interval of plus or minus 3.3 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 1.1 (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 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 executive director of the HPU Poll for the Survey Research Center.
Dr. J.R. Moller serves as staff director of the HPU Poll for the Survey Research Center.