Civitas Poll: Perdue Support Remains High

Voters Not Pleased With Early Vacation

Raleigh, N.C. – A weeklong vacation in the Virgin Islands after only one month in the Governor’s Mansion does not seem to be hurting voters’ approval rates of the job North Carolina Gov. Bev Perdue (D) is doing in office, this according to the latest Civitas Institute poll.

Results from the live caller poll of 600 voters show the number of voters approving of her job as Governor improve five points over her initial level in January.  This month, 16 percent of voters in North Carolina strongly approve of Perdue’s job performance and 36 percent of voters somewhat approve.  Overall, the number of voters approving of her job increased from 47 percent to 52 percent.

However, the number of voters disapproving of her job performance has doubled over last month and her net approval rating slightly decreased.  Sixteen percent of voters somewhat or strongly disapprove of what she has done in office, up from eight percent in January.  The 52 to 16 (+36) margin of approval over disapproval is down three points from January.

“Gov. Perdue’s approval numbers remain solid her second month into office. There is still a large group of voters who have yet to make up their mind on how she’s doing,” Executive Director of the Civitas Institute Francis De Luca said.

Voters were also asked if they thought it was appropriate or inappropriate for the Governor to take a week’s vacation in the Virgin Islands after only a month in office.  Sixty-five percent of the voters polled said they did not think the vacation was appropriate.  Twenty-five percent of respondents said Perdue’s actions were appropriate, followed by 10 percent who said they were not sure.

“While voters found her early vacation inappropriate, it does not seem to be significantly impacting her approval rating as of yet,” added De Luca. 

Full text of questions:

“Do you approve or disapprove of the job Beverly Perdue is doing as Governor?”

Strongly Approve- 16%
Somewhat Approve- 36%
Somewhat Disapprove- 9%
Strongly Disapprove- 7%
Not Sure- 32%

“Do you think it was appropriate for Gov. Bev Perdue to take a week’s vacation in the Virgin Islands after being in office for only four weeks?”

Yes- 25%
No- 65%
Not Sure- 10%

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 Feb.16-19, 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.