Raleigh, N.C. – Gov. Bev Perdue’s favorability numbers ticked up slightly this month, but her overall favorability rating remains a net negative according to a new poll released today by the Civitas Institute. Perhaps more troubling for Perdue was that only 1 in 5 voters would vote to re-elect the Governor if the election were held today.
According to the live caller poll of 600 likely voters, Perdue was seen favorably by 32 percent and unfavorably by 38 percent for a net favorability rating of -6. Another 28 percent of voters said they had no opinion of the current Governor.
Voters were additionally asked if the election for governor were held today, would they vote to re-elect Perdue regardless of her opposition. Only 20 percent of voters said yes, while 62 percent said no and 17 percent said they were unsure.
“Gov. Perdue’s favorability rating has come up a bit over the past few months, but this is mainly due to her negatives softening. This month is actually the second lowest percentage of voters giving her favorable marks that we have recorded,” said Civitas Institute Executive Director Francis De Luca. “I guess spending two weeks out of the country, taking a popular position on releasing violent criminals and spending $275,000 on public service announcements telling North Carolinians to wash their hands did her poll numbers some good.”
Even those with favorable opinions of Perdue are not sold on her re-election as Governor. Less than half of those who had a favorable opinion of Perdue (49 percent) said they would definitely vote to re-elect her.
“It’s rather remarkable how quickly Gov. Perdue’s popularity has dropped. Less than a year on the job and only 1 in 5 voters would keep her around,” added De Luca.
The Civitas Poll is the only monthly live-caller poll of critical issues facing North Carolina. Full results of the poll will be revealed at the Civitas Institute’s monthly poll luncheon on Thursday, December 10 at the Brownstone Hotel in downtown Raleigh. For more polling information on Civitas polling see www.nccivitas.org/media/poll-results/.
Full text of questions:
Now, I am going to read you a list of names. Will you please tell me if you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of each person? If you have no opinion or have never heard of the person, just say so.
“Bev Perdue”
Favorable – 32%
Unfavorable – 38%
No Opinion – 28%
If the election for Governor were held today, would you vote to re-elect Bev Perdue regardless of who ran against her?
Yes – 20%
No – 62%
Not Sure – 17%
Click here for full results and crosstabs.
This poll of 600 likely general election voters in North Carolina was conducted Dec 1-3, 2009 by Tel Opinion Research of Arlington, Virginia. 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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