Raleigh, N.C. – Grappling with 9.9 percent statewide unemployment, 63 percent of North Carolina voters blame government for the current financial crisis, according to a poll released today by the Civitas Institute.
Sixty-three percent of voters say government is most responsible for the financial crisis our nation is suffering, 27 percent say business is most responsible and 10 percent said they are not sure or refused to answer.
This is a nine point increase since an October 2008 Civitas poll when voters blamed government over business by a 54 percent to 27 percent margin.
“It appears that voters increasingly hold government responsible for the bad economic environment, which is not good news for any incumbent politician who may get the blame,” said Civitas Institute President Francis De Luca.
Voters largely hold government responsible for the financial crisis across all breakdowns: Republicans (84 percent), unaffiliated (61 percent) and Democrats (49 percent). Sixty-five percent of voters in the 26-40 and 66+ age demographics most blame government, along with voters in the Piedmont Triad (71 percent) and Northeast (66 percent).
“Despite almost three years of political attacks on the free enterprise system and the increasing regulation of the free market, voters blame government even more than business,” added De Luca.
The Civitas Poll is the only regular live-caller poll of critical issues facing North Carolina. For more information on Civitas polling see http://www.nccivitas.org/category/poll/.
Full Text of Question:
“From the following list, who is most responsible for the financial crisis that our nation is suffering?”
Government – 63%
Business – 27%
Not Sure/Refused – 10%
Click here for full results and crosstabs.
This poll of 600 registered general election voters in North Carolina was conducted July 12-13, 2011 by National Research, Inc. of Holmdel, NJ. All respondents were part of a fully representative sample of registered voters in North Carolina. For purposes of this study, voters interviewed had to have voted in at least one of the past three general elections (2006, 2008, 2010) or be newly registered to vote since November 2, 2010.
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 at least one of the past three general elections or is newly registered since November 2, 2010.
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