Raleigh, N.C. — North Carolina voters are more aware of which party controls Congress and the NC Governor’s mansion than they were less than two years ago according to a new poll released today by the Civitas Institute. However, less than half were able to identify the party in control of the NC House or NC Senate.
In the live caller poll of 600 likely 2010 voters, respondents were asked which party – Democratic or Republican – controls various branches of state and federal government. 69 percent of voters were able to correctly identify that the Democratic Party controlled Congress, up 18 percentage points from July 2008. Additionally, 72 percent said a Democrat was in the NC Governor’s mansion, up 11 percentage points.
However, only 49 percent of voters correctly identified Democrats controlling the North Carolina House and the North Carolina Senate. In July 2008, only 40 percent of voters knew Democrats controlled the NC Senate.
“While voters’ information level is improving, it is still disappointing that such a large number of actual voters do not know which party is in control,” said Civitas Institute President Francis De Luca. “It is encouraging that North Carolina voters are better at identifying the state governor’s party than who controls Congress.”
Additionally, only 63 percent of voters were able to state that former Gov. Mike Easley belonged to the Democratic Party.
“Republicans have often tried to run anti-incumbency or anti-corruption campaigns in North Carolina, but when the voters aren’t sure who is in charge, it’s harder to make the case to throw out those in power,” added De Luca.
Generally, younger voters were less able to correctly identify the governing party, while voters in the Triangle area were more able to say who was in control.
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:
Which political party controls (with difference from July 2008):
Congress?
Democratic – 69% (+18 from July 2008)
Republican – 10% (-9)
Not Sure – 21% (-9)
The Governor’s office?
Democratic – 72% (+11)
Republican – 7% (-7)
Not Sure – 21% (-4)
The North Carolina State House of Representatives?
Democratic – 49% (no change)
Republican – 11% (-6)
Not Sure – 40% (+5)
The North Carolina State Senate?
Democratic – 49% (+9)
Republican – 11% (-4)
Not Sure – 40% (-4)
Click here for full results and crosstabs.
This poll of 600 likely general election voters in North Carolina was conducted March 16-18, 2010 by Tel Opinion Research of Alexandria, 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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