North Carolina voters from both sides of the political aisle have found common ground leading up to the state’s March primary.
A survey published on Thursday by Raleigh-based Public Policy Polling found that 59 percent of voters in the state want North Carolina law changed so that “districts are drawn in a nonpartisan fashion.” That compares with nine percent of voters who opposed the transition.
The splits were consistently in favor of a nonpartisan redistricting process with Democrats approving of a transition 65/5, Independents at 56/12 and Republicans at 54/11.
The gerrymandering of districts in North Carolina has long been a topic of debate but has heated up in recent weeks as a federal appeals court ordered the North Carolina General Assembly to redraw two Congressional districts because they were unconstitutional.
Congressional map drawn in 2011 that was ordered to be changed.
An appeal of that decision was denied by the same federal court and the U.S. Supreme Court has yet to respond to a request to stay the order to redraw districts until after the upcoming primary.
Lawmakers have held meetings throughout the week to redraw the districts, beginning with a public hearing on Monday and releasing newly proposed-maps on Wednesday. The North Carolina House and Senate are scheduled to hold votes to approve the newly-drawn maps on Thursday afternoon, ahead of the Friday deadline set by the federal court.
Bipartisan groups of lawmakers have proposed legislation that would establish an independent redistricting commission. But leadership, while Democrats controlled state politics and with the GOP at the helm as of late, has refused to move on the legislation.
Other notes from the PPP survey include what continues to be a tight race for the Governor’s mansion. Governor Pat McCrory will be seeking a second term in office and will be facing Democratic opposition, most likely, from Attorney General Roy Cooper. Both McCrory and Cooper are facing challengers in the March 15 primary.
McCroy holds a 43/41 lead over Cooper in the latest survey, which PPP credits to a 39/33 advantage among independents.
While McCrory has an edge in the head-to-head race, a higher percentage of respondents view him unfavorably (47) than approve of the job he has done (40). The survey showed that most of those polled still have little knowledge of Roy Cooper, with 47 percent having no opinion of the Attorney General.
In the race for U.S. Senate, respondents continued to disapprove of the job done by incumbent Republican Richard Burr as 29 percent approved and 40 percent disapproved. But Burr continues to hold a lead over his prospective Democratic challengers for the November election.
Burr leads Deborah Ross 43/37 and both Kevin Griffin and Chris Rey at 43/36 margins. PPP says Ross is “well positioned to win the nomination without a runoff” and challenge Burr in the general election.
There are a few other areas that PPP finds bipartisan support across North Carolina:
– Increasing the minimum wage as 69 percent of respondents favor upping it to at least $10 per hour, 17 percent think it’s fine where it is and nine percent supported eliminating it altogether.
– A majority of North Carolinians also back the EPA’s Clean Power Plan with 68 percent supporting, compared with 24 percent opposing.
– Mandating background checks on all gun sales received support from 86 percent of respondents, including 92 percent of Democrats, 85 percent of Independents and 78 percent of Republicans.
PPP director Tom Jensen will be on with WCHL’s Aaron Keck on Friday to discuss the latest results.
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