Raleigh, N.C. – During a recent speech on the economy, Gov. Bev Perdue dubbed herself the “jobs governor.” Unfortunately for her, very few North Carolinians feel that is an accurate description, according to a new poll released today by the Civitas Institute.
In the live caller poll of 600 likely voters, only 12 percent of voters believed that the “jobs governor” was an accurate nickname for Gov. Perdue after her first year in office. Another 68 percent of voters did not believe it was accurate and 19 percent were unsure.
“There is little doubt that Perdue’s self-declaration as the ‘jobs governor’ came out of left field and is not based in reality,” said Civitas Institute executive director Francis De Luca. “For a governor to claim that title and have 11.2% unemployment in the state does not pass the smell test.”
Perdue’s favorability rating for January (-6) remained little changed from December (-5) with more North Carolinians still having an unfavorable opinion of her than favorable. For January, 38 percent of voters had a favorable opinion of Perdue while 43 percent had an unfavorable opinion. Additionally, 18 percent of those polled had no opinion and two percent were not aware of her.
The ray of good news for Perdue is her favorability among members of her own party reached 50 percent in January for the first time since April 2009, giving her a +20 favorability rating among Democrats. However, Republican (-29) and unaffiliated voters (-16) still hold a negative opinion of her.
“Nothing seems to work better than a good vacation to revitalize the Governor’s appearance with the voters of North Carolina. The last time her poll numbers were this high was when she went on vacation early last spring,” added De Luca.
The Civitas Poll is the only monthly live-caller poll of critical issues facing North Carolina. For more polling information on Civitas polling see www.nccivitas.org/media/poll-results/.
Full text of questions:
I am going to read you a list of names, please tell me if have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of each. If you have not heard of the person, just say so:
“Bev Perdue”
Favorable – 38% (+6 from December)
Unfavorable – 43% (+5)
No Opinion – 18% (-10)
Not Aware – 2% (nc)
Governor Bev Perdue recently nicknamed herself the “Jobs Governor.” Do you think this is an accurate description of her first year in office?
Yes – 12%
No – 68%
Not Sure – 19%
Click here for full results and crosstabs.
This poll of 600 likely general election voters in North Carolina was conducted Jan. 19-21 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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