Polls show McCrory gaining
Published 4:31 pm Monday, February 16, 2015
From a column by John Hood, chairman of the John Locke Foundation
During late January and early February, four different polling organizations went into the field to study public attitudes across the state. They included the Democratic firm Public Policy Polling, Republican-leaning National Research Inc. (working for the Civitas Institute), Meeting Street Research (working for a conservative group called Carolina Partnership for Reform), and High Point University.
While each group had its own focus, there were some questions in common. … The most obvious one is that Gov. Pat McCrory is faring better than other major politicians in the state. Across the four surveys, he had an average job approval of 45 percent, higher than his average disapproval of 40 percent. President Barack Obama matched McCrory’s average approval of 45 percent but received disapproval from 50 percent. The newly elected Sen. Tillis was also underwater in public approval, albeit at lower numbers.
… Meeting Street surveyed likely voters and found the legislature as an institution was on the plus side at 46 percent approval to 42 percent disapproval. On the other hand, PPP sampled registered voters and came up with 23 percent approval to 51 percent disapproval.
On the crucial issue of which party North Carolinians think should be in charge of the place, the two pollsters produced an intriguing result. Each asked a “generic ballot” question. Each got a slight GOP edge — 42 percent to 41 percent from Meeting Street and 45 percent to 43 percent from PPP. So while some policies enacted by state Republicans have drawn critical media coverage and even public disapproval, the narrative of a state full of voters chomping at the bit to overturn GOP control of state government is patently false.