June 11, 2014
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Francis De Luca (919) 834-2099 Francis.deluca@nccivitas.org
RALEIGH – The latest Civitas Institute Poll shows North Carolina voters oppose government abuse of the right of eminent domain. The poll also showed voters evenly split on hydraulic fracturing, the energy development process commonly known as fracking.
“North Carolina voters understand that government abuse of the right of eminent domain has far-reaching and harmful consequences,” Civitas President Francis X. De Luca said. “They are also split evenly on whether the state should permit fracking.”
The poll of 600 registered North Carolina voters was conducted May 20-22, and has an error margin of plus/minus 4 percent. Twenty-five percent of the respondents were contacted on cellphones.
Text of questions*:
“State Lawmakers are planning to open North Carolina to natural gas exploration and drilling in shale deposits through the use of hydraulic fracturing, also known as ‘fracking,’ by next year. Do you support or oppose this practice in our state?”
41% Total Support
41% Total Oppose
23% Strongly Support
18% Somewhat Support
11% Somewhat Oppose
30% Strongly Oppose
17% Don’t Know/ No Opinion
“Do you agree or disagree with the following statement: ‘It is wrong for the government to take property from businesses, unless it is for an overwhelming public good or need.’”
65% Total Agree
29% Total Disagree
44% Strongly Agree
21% Somewhat Agree
10% Somewhat Disagree
19% Strongly Disagree
6% Undecided/Don’t Know
“Do you agree or disagree with the following statement: ’North Carolina will have trouble attracting new businesses to the state if it gains a reputation for taking property away from private businesses that operate here.’”
77% Total Agree
16% Total Disagree
53% Strongly Agree
24% Somewhat Agree
10% Somewhat Disagree
6% Strongly Disagree
7% Undecided/Don’t Know
*Due to rounding, percentages may not equal 100.
This poll of 600 registered voters in North Carolina was conducted May 20-22, 2014 by National Research, Inc. of Holmdel, NJ. All respondents were part of a fully representative sample of registered general election voters in North Carolina. Twenty-five percent of the respondents were cell phone-only users. For purposes of this study, voters interviewed had to have voted in at least one of the past two general elections (2010, 2012) or be newly registered to vote since November 7, 2012.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.”
Civitas conducts the only regular live-caller polling of North Carolina voters. For more information on Civitas polling, see http://www.nccivitas.org/category/poll/.
The Civitas Institute is a policy institute based in Raleigh, N.C. More information is available at www.nccivitas.org, or contact Jim Tynen at (919) 834-2099 or james.tynen@nccivitas.org.
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