Raleigh, N.C. – President Barack Obama’s favorable rating with North Carolina voters improved in January, but voters prefer Republicans to Democrats in Congress according to a new poll released by the Civitas Institute.
According to the live caller poll of 600 likely voters, President Obama was seen favorably by 52 percent of voters. 37 percent had an unfavorable opinion. 10 percent had no opinion. The +15 point spread between favorable and unfavorable is up five points over his ratings in December.
However, when asked generically if they preferred a Republican or Democratic candidate for Congress, voters supported Republicans by a 41-39 margin.
“Voters are separating their personal opinion of the President from their opinion of his policies,” said Civitas Institute Executive Director Francis De Luca. “While North Carolinians continue to see the President in a favorable light, his policies and in turn, Democrats in Congress, are unpopular with voters.”
This split is evident among unaffiliated voters who have a 51-37 favorable rating for Obama, yet prefer Republicans for Congress by a 41-31 margin.
“Nothing better exemplifies the split between personality and policy than seeing personally popular Obama sitting courtside, giving color commentary on TV while watching Duke lose to Georgetown on Sunday, then on Monday pursuing his unpopular liberal agenda by announcing the largest budget deficit in history along with tax increases for most Americans,” added De Luca. “Basically, voters like Obama, they just don’t like his policies.”
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:
“Barack Obama”
Favorable – 52% (+4 from December)
Unfavorable – 37% (-1)
No Opinion – 10% (-4)
If the election for US Congress were held today, would you be voting for the Republican or the Democratic candidate?
Republican – 41%
Democratic – 39%
Neither – 5%
Not Sure – 16%
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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