Raleigh, N.C. – Reacting to Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue’s proposed $19.9 billion dollar budget, 70 percent of North Carolina voters support the state House’s proposed budget which cuts spending and does not raise taxes, according to a new poll released today by the Civitas Institute. The poll also revealed strong support for balancing the state budget by spending available revenue with no tax increase.
Seventy percent of voters said they support the state House budget of $19.3 billion dollars. Nineteen percent support Gov. Perdue’s $19.9 billion dollar budget that requires raising taxes by $826 million dollars, and 5 percent said they do not know.
There is bipartisan support for the House budget which cuts spending and does not raise taxes: Republicans (85 percent), Unaffiliated (80 percent), and Democrats (55 percent). Opposition to tax increases spans all political ideologies as voters identified as conservative support the House budget over Perdue’s by 82 percent to 9 percent, plus moderate voters 64 percent to 24 percent. Liberals also back cutting spending with no tax hikes by a 45 percent – 39 percent margin.
“When given the facts on the current budget battle, voters come down overwhelmingly on the side of spending cuts versus tax increases,” said Civitas Institute president Francis De Luca. “While some polls show voters supporting an ‘extension’ of a sales tax increase, in the fall 2012 elections campaign mailers will be attacking politicians for raising taxes, not for “extending” taxes.”
Seventy-one percent of voters support spending available revenue, with no tax increase, to balance the state budget. Conversely, 20 percent support spending more through a tax increase with Gov. Perdue’s proposed $19.9 billion dollar budget.
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:
“Governor Perdue has proposed a $19.9 billion dollar budget. In order to pay for her budget she would raise taxes on N.C. residents by $826 million dollars. The North Carolina House passed a budget of $19.3 billion dollars which cut spending, but raised no taxes. Which option do you support?”
Governor Perdue’s $19.9 billion dollar budget, where taxes for residents would need to be raised by $826 million dollars – 19%
The North Carolina House budget of $19.3 billion dollars, which cut spending but raised no taxes – 70%
Neither/Other – 4%
Don’t Know/Refused – 7%
“The North Carolina Constitution requires a balanced budget. To balance that budget this year the legislature has two options. They can spend more by raising taxes or cut spending to meet the $19.1 billion dollars of revenue available. The governor proposed a $19.9 billion dollar budget with over $800 million dollars in tax increases. The legislature passed a spending plan that is about $800 million dollars lower without raising taxes. Which of those two options do you support?”
Spending more with a tax increase – 20%
Spending available revenue with no tax increase – 71%
Neither/Other – 2%
Don’t Know/Refused – 7%
Click here for full results and crosstabs.
This poll of 600 registered general election voters in North Carolina was conducted May 10-11, 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 two of the past four general elections or were newly registered to vote since 2008.
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 two of the past four general elections or were newly registered to vote since 2008.
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