Raleigh, N.C. – Over half, 52 percent, of North Carolina’s unaffiliated voters blame both political parties equally for the recent Standard & Poor credit downgrade, according to a poll released today by the Civitas Institute. The poll also revealed they think excessive spending is most responsible for the crisis.
The credit rating agency Standard & Poor recently downgraded the credit of the United States government. Fifty-two percent of unaffiliated voters said both parties are equally to blame for the downgrade. Seventeen percent say Democrats and Republicans are each solely responsible and four percent said they do not know.
“It looks like unaffiliated voters are saying a pox on both parties when it comes to the credit downgrade,” said Civitas Institute President Francis De Luca.
While political leaders and the media discuss who to blame, 36 percent of unaffiliated voters say excessive spending is the responsible for this crisis. Seventeen percent blame Barack Obama and the Tea Party (14 percent), while 12 percent said they do not know.
“Over one-third of these voters are clearly saying that it is the spending, more than blame any other combinations of party and politicians,” 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:
“The credit rating agency Standard & Poor recently downgraded the credit of the United States government, meaning they have less faith in the ability of the U.S. government to pay their bills. This may make it more expensive for the American government to borrow money in the future. If you could pick one person or issue that is most responsible for this crisis, what would you say?”
Barack Obama – 17%
Harry Reid and Democrats in U.S. Senate – 4%
Excessive Spending – 36%
Taxes not high enough – 3%
Tea Party – 14%
John Boehner and Republicans in House – 11%
Don’t Know – 12%
Refused – 4%
“If you had to choose which political party carried the most blame for the credit downgrade, would you say:”
Democrats – 17%
Republicans – 17%
Both parties, equally – 52%
Neither – 4%
Tea Party – 4%
Other – 1%
Don’t Know/Refused – 5%
Click here for full results and crosstabs.
This poll of 400 unaffiliated general election voters in North Carolina was conducted August 15-16 by National Research, Inc. of Holmdel, NJ. All respondents were part of a fully representative sample of unaffiliated 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 400 interviews (registered voters) will be within +/-4.9% of the “True Values.” True Values refer to the results obtained if it were possible to interview every unaffiliated voter 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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