Raleigh, N.C. – A large majority, 65 percent, of North Carolina voters want Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue to sign the Balanced Budget Act of 2011 (SB 13) that would reduce spending in the current year budget and help balance next year’s budget, according to a new poll released today by the Civitas Institute.
The state Legislature passed a bill that could reduce spending by up to $800 million from the current year’s budget; the money would come from various unspent accounts including some job development programs. Sixty-five percent of voters said Perdue should sign this bill, 18 percent said she should veto it, and 17 percent said they do not know.
“North Carolina voters are sending a strong message to Gov. Perdue that it’s time to take steps to reduce government spending and get tough on the state’s budget,” said Civitas Institute President Francis De Luca.
Moreover, there is almost equal support among voters of all parties for Perdue to sign the bill and balance the budget. Democratic voters most favor her signing the legislation with 66 percent saying sign and only 18 percent saying to veto, followed by Republicans (64 percent sign-17 percent veto). Unaffiliated voters support the governor signing it by a 63 percent-18 percent margin.
“Voters understand that reducing spending and not raising taxes benefits all North Carolinians,” added De Luca. “Voters in 2010, and continuing this year, have been telling us loud and clear that spending is the problem. Now the question is does Gov. Perdue understand that?”
The Civitas Poll is the only monthly 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 state Legislature passed a bill cutting $800 million from the current year’s budget to help balance next year’s budget which is projected to have a $3.7 billion dollar deficit. The money would come from various unspent accounts including some job development programs and industrial recruitment funds. No current programs, projects or jobs would be eliminated. Should the governor sign or veto this bill?”
Sign – 65%
Veto – 18%
Don’t Know/Undecided – 17%
Click here for full results and crosstabs.
This poll of 600 registered general election voters in North Carolina was conducted February 10, 12-13 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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The people of North Carolina obviously do not understand this bill. The MEAN-SPIRITED Republicans are up to their usual tricks!! This bill holds 37,000 NC families ransom to their demands for budget reductions. This money is Federal Taxes that North Carolinians sent to Washington—that would come back to THIS STATE and be spent HERE! That money is not only needed by the families that are depending on it to help them until they are able to find employment—but it is also needed by the economy of this state. Because the Republicans added their pet budget cuts to it–the governor has no choice but to veto it. It seems they WANT the economy of NC to stay bad–I guess hoping that it will ensure their wins in upcoming elections.