NC Legislature Unpopular With Voters, According To New Poll

CHAPEL HILL – There’s been a wave of legislation coming out of the state legislature lately—and a new poll finds that North Carolinians aren’t too happy about it.

Tom Jensen works for Public Policy Polling in Raleigh. He explains the PPP’s new poll gauged how North Carolinians feel about what’s going-on in Raleigh right now.  The group surveyed 601 state voters from April 11 to 14.

“Approval numbers for the republicans in the state legislature have always been pretty bad, but they really are getting worse now as we get deep into this legislative session,” Jensen said.

The poll found that 52 percent of voters disapprove of Republicans as a whole running the state government while only 38 percent approve.

“I think it’s because so many controversial bills have been proposed by the republicans in the legislature and what we’re finding is that most of the bills are not popular with the public at large,” he said.

57 percent of North Carolinians do not approve of Senate Bill 667  or “Equalize Voter Rights,” which seeks to prohibit parents from claiming children who are registered to vote in their college communities as dependents on their tax returns.

“Even though republicans in the legislature are pushing it is that actually republican voters are opposed to it in addition to democrats and independents,” Jensen explained.

Additionally, 59 percent of voters oppose Senate Bill 666 that would reduce the numbers of early voting days from 17 to 10.

“And of course people in Orange County, even more so than in other parts of the state, have really taken advantage of early voting over the years to the extent that there are fewer people voting on Election Day generally.”

Though the state’s legislature is not popular with North Carolinians right now, the PPP poll shows that NC Governor Pat McCrory continues to be popular with an approval rating sitting at 49%. Jensen says that’s a very good number for a politician these days. He says McCrory’s numbers have been steadily positive since he was elected.