Raleigh, N.C. – North Carolina voters are as divided as the president and Congress on the issue of raising the federal debt limit.
While 39 percent of voters support raising the debt limit if combined with deep cuts in federal spending, a full 31 percent oppose raising the debt limit. Another 16 percent oppose deep cuts in federal spending and 14 percent said they did not know, were undecided or refused to answer.
Party registration has a slight impact on opinion, with the exception of Republicans who are split; 42 percent support increasing the debt limit with deep cuts while 40 percent oppose any increase in the debt limit. Eight percent said they oppose deep cuts in federal spending. The Democratic numbers are 38 percent, 25 percent and 20 percent respectively. Unaffiliated voters break 37 percent, 31 percent and 20 percent on the respective positions.
“The lack of a consensus opinion among voters shows the political danger for both sides in this debate,” said Civitas Institute President Francis De Luca.
The three groups of voters most opposed to any increase in the debt limit are those who disapprove of the job President Obama is doing by 41 percent, those who vote Republican regardless of registration by 41 percent and the largest percentage is among those who say they support the Tea Party by 43 percent.
“At the end of the day there will be a debt limit increase; how Republicans balance that with what a large plurality of North Carolina voters expect could have a big impact in the next election cycle,” 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:
“Would you support or oppose raising the government’s debt limit while also making deep cuts in spending on federal programs?” (IF OPPOSE: “Is that because you oppose raising the debt limit or because you oppose deep cuts in federal spending?”)
Total Support – 39%
Total Oppose – 47%
Oppose – Oppose raising Debt limit – 31%
Oppose – Oppose deep cuts in federal spending – 16%
No Opinion/Neither/Other – 6%
Don’t Know – 7%
Refused – 1%
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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