Civitas Poll: Obama Losing to Candidates Romney and Perry in N.C.

Raleigh, N.C. – In the swing state of North Carolina, a new poll by the Civitas Institute reveals that if the election for President was today, Democrat Barack Obama would lose to either Republican candidate Mitt Romney or Rick Perry.

Romney currently leads as the choice among North Carolina voters as 50 percent said they would vote for him if the election for President of the United States was being held today and the candidates were Mitt Romney the Republican, and Barack Obama the Democrat.  Thirty-nine percent said they would vote for Obama, and seven percent are undecided.

Voters in the 18-25 (62 percent) and 26-40 (49 percent) age demographics would pick Obama over Romney if the election was today.  Fifty-four percent of those age 41-55 and 48 percent of voters 56-65 would vote for Romney.  In the key 66+ demographic, Romney has their support by a 57 percent to 31 percent margin.

“Romney having run in 2008 and been again actively campaigning for the last year is a known quantity.  Voters seem to be judging the incumbent based on their view of the economy and that is not good for President Obama,” said Civitas Institute President Francis De Luca.

In another potential matchup, if the election for President was today, Obama would lose to Republican candidate Rick Perry by a 48 percent to 41 percent margin.  Seven percent of voters said they are undecided.

Eighty-four percent of Republicans and 51 percent of unaffiliated voters would choose Perry if the presidential election was today.  Sixty-nine percent of Democrats would vote for Obama.

“Perry’s numbers are up over Obama slightly from July, but what has to be troubling for the President is the undecided vote.  Usually undecided voters end up going in larger percentages for the challenger,” 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 Questions:

“If the election for President of the United States was being held today and you had to make a choice, for whom would you vote if the candidates were: Mitt Romney the Republican, and Barack Obama the Democrat?”

Total Romney – 50%

Total Obama – 39%

Definitely Romney – 41%

Probably Romney – 7%

Lean Romney – 2%

Undecided – 7%

Lean Obama – 1%

Probably Obama – 4%

Definitely Obama – 34%

Refused – 4%

 

“If the election for President of the United States was being held today and you had to make a choice, for whom would you vote if the candidates were: Rick Perry the Republican, and Barack Obama the Democrat?”

Total Perry – 48%

Total Obama – 41%

Definitely Perry – 41%

Probably Perry – 4%

Lean Perry – 3%

Undecided – 7%

Lean Obama – 1%

Probably Obama – 4%

Definitely Obama – 35%

Refused – 4%

For the full results and crosstabs, click here.

This poll of 600 likely 2012 general election voters in North Carolina was conducted September 22-25, 2011 by National Research, Inc. of Holmdel, NJ.  All respondents were part of a fully representative sample of likely 2012 general election 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.

###