Less than one in five aware
Raleigh, N.C. – Leadership of the N.C. House and Senate are relatively unknown to North Carolina voters, according to a new poll released today by the Civitas Institute.
The 600 person live-caller poll of voters in North Carolina asked respondents if they had a favorable, unfavorable or no opinion of Marc Basnight, Tony Rand, Phil Berger, Joe Hackney and Paul Stam.
Senate President Pro-Tempore Marc Basnight had the highest name identification of the five tested, with 12 percent of voters having a favorable opinion and seven percent having an unfavorable opinion. Of the voters who responded, 81 percent of them said they either had no opinion of Basnight or were not aware of him. Senate Majority Leader Tony Rand had the second highest name identification with eight percent favorable, five percent unfavorable and 87 percent having no opinion or not aware.
Speaker of the House Joe Hackney was known by 12 percent of voters (nine percent favorable, three percent unfavorable) and 88 percent of voters were either not aware or had no opinion.
“Outside the world of government and inside the Raleigh Beltline, voters of North Carolina know very little about the people who run government,” said Francis De Luca, executive director of the Civitas Institute. “With only half of voters knowing which party is in charge of the General Assembly, it is not surprising that so few actually know the leadership.”
Republican leaders of the N.C. House and Senate faired equally poorly. House Republican leader Paul Stam was known by just nine percent of voters (six percent favorable, three percent unfavorable). While his counterpart in the Senate, Republican leader Phil Berger was known by 11 percent of voters (eight percent favorable, three percent unfavorable).
“The fact that the Republican leadership is similarly unknown shows that very few people are paying attention to government in Raleigh. Whether that is because of lack of interest or lack of coverage by the news media is up for debate,” added De Luca. “At a time when media companies are paring back reporting, these numbers suggest that there actually needs to be more coverage of North Carolina government, not less.”
Full text of questions:
“I am now going to read you a list of names. After I read each name, please tell me if you have heard of that person, and then if you have, please tell me if you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of that person.
Opinion of Marc Basnight:
Very Favorable – 4%
Somewhat Favorable – 8%
Somewhat Unfavorable – 4%
Very Unfavorable – 3%
No Opinion – 18%
Not Aware – 63%
Opinion of Tony Rand:
Very Favorable – 3%
Somewhat Favorable – 5%
Somewhat Unfavorable – 3%
Very Unfavorable – 2%
No Opinion – 23%
Not Aware – 64%
Opinion of Phil Berger:
Very Favorable – 1%
Somewhat Favorable – 6%
Somewhat Unfavorable – 2%
Very Unfavorable – 1%
No Opinion – 22%
Not Aware – 68%
Opinion of Joe Hackney:
Very Favorable – 2%
Somewhat Favorable – 6%
Somewhat Unfavorable – 1%
Very Unfavorable – 2%
No Opinion – 21%
Not Aware – 67%
Opinion of Paul Stam:
Very Favorable – 2%
Somewhat Favorable – 4%
Somewhat Unfavorable – 2%
Very Unfavorable – 1%
No Opinion – 16%
Not Aware – 75%
Click here for full results and crosstabs.
The Civitas Poll is the only monthly live-caller poll of critical issues and policies facing North Carolina. The study of 600 registered voters was conducted Mar.16 to 19, 2009. All respondents were part of a fully representative sample of registered voters in North Carolina. For purposes of this study, voters we interviewed had to have voted in either the 2004, 2006 or 2008 general elections or were newly registered voters since 2008.
The confidence interval associated with a sample of this size is such that: 95 percent of the time, results from 600 interviews (registered voters) will be within +-4% of the “True Values.” True Values refer to the results obtained if it were possible to interview every person in North Carolina who had voted in either the 2004, 2006 or 2008 general elections or were newly registered voters since 2008.
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If you would like more information regarding this topic or to schedule an interview with Chris Hayes, please contact Gabe Dellinger at 919.747.8065 or Gabe.Dellinger@nccivitas.org.
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