Raleigh, N.C. – There is broad support among North Carolina voters for drug testing those who receive public assistance, according to a new poll released today by the Civitas Institute.
The Speaker of the North Carolina House recently proposed drug testing for recipients of public assistance. Seventy-one percent of respondents said they support this idea. Twenty-three percent said they oppose it and four percent said they do not know or have no opinion.
One’s party affiliation appears to not play a role in this proposal as Republicans (86 percent), unaffiliated voters (70 percent), and 60 percent of Democrats approve of drug testing public assistance recipients.
“While it may have been an off the cuff remark by Speaker Tillis, the voters of North Carolina support this proposal in overwhelming numbers,” said Civitas Institute President Francis De Luca. “Aside from newspaper editors, liberal politicians and a few commentators from progressive groups, most people think this is a common sense idea.”
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:
“The Speaker of the North Carolina House has proposed drug testing for recipients of public assistance. Do you agree or disagree with drug testing all those who receive public assistance in the state?”
Total Agree – 71%
Total Disagree – 23%
Strongly Agree – 55%
Somewhat Agree – 16%
Somewhat Disagree – 8%
Strongly Disagree – 15%
Don’t Know/No Opinion – 4%
Refused – 2%
For the full results and crosstabs, click here.
This poll of 600 likely 2012 general election voters in North Carolina was conducted October 17-18 2011 by National Research, Inc. of Holmdel, NJ. All respondents were part of a fully representative sample of probable 2012 general election voters in North Carolina. For purposes of this study, voters interviewed had to have voted in 2006 or 2008 or be newly registered to vote since November 5, 2008. (November 5 is the day after the election)
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 the 2006 or 2008 general elections or is newly registered since November 5, 2008.
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It’s not about what to do to validate a person receiving public assistance, we need to do away with public assistance by the government all together! Assistance for those needing help needs to be rendered by charities, foundations, and religious entities who will manage resources more effectively and prevent the total abuse of benefits that the government has allowed and condones.