Philip D. Brown

Richmond County Daily Journal

Recent poll of North Carolina residents found public opinion of Governor Bev Perdue has plummeted over the course of the past several months,

The John W. Pope Civitas Institute reports June polling found a 36 percent favorable opinion rating in June.

This after the same group published a poll reporting a 58 percent favorable opinion rating of the first term executive in March.

In the June poll, 38 percent reported an unfavorable opinion of Perdue and 22 percent said they had no opinion. Three percent said they were unaware of what she is doing in office.

The John W. Pope Civitas Institute conducts monthly polling of the state’s citizenry and publishes public policy analysis on its website. It attributes at least part of her dip in polling numbers to her push for over $1.6 billion in additional taxes to help cope with the state’s budget shortfall.

Answers to the polling questions are taken over the phone from 800 registered voters in North Carolina who have voted in two elections since 2002.

The figures seem to be confirmed by polling conducted by the Southern Political Report in June. Their survey of 894 registered voters (weighted for factors like age, race, gender and political affiliation) found 36 percent of respondents looked favorably upon the Perdue administration, while 56 percent looked unfavorably upon the job she is doing.

The Civitas Institute is reported a correlating percentage to Gov. Perdue’s favorable rating, about a third, of North Carolinians feel the state is headed in the right direction.

More than half of respondents felt the state is on the “wrong track,” while 40 percent cited improving the economy and the creation of jobs as the biggest issue facing the state.

Of those polled by Civitas, 63 percent said they’d noticed no decline in state services this year, while a third said they had noticed a decline. Road conditions were excluded from the conversation as part of the question asked of individuals.

The figures can not apparently be attributed to party lines, either.

North Carolinians polled reported a 61 percent favorable opinion rating of President Barack Obama, and 41 percent said they would give the nod to a Democrat, while 36 percent said Republican, if the election for state legislature were held the day of polling.

Former Governor Mike Easley appears to be getting off lighter than Perdue, at least in public opinion, judging by these numbers. He is currently being investigated for alleged misconduct while in office.

Less than 10 percent of those who responded cited fighting government corruption as the biggest issue facing North Carolina, and only 13 percent reported they are monitoring the federal investigation into Easley’s real estate dealings, executive travel tab and the use of his office to influence the decision of N.C. State University to create a well-paid position for his wife “very closely.”

Half said they are monitoring the situation “somewhat closely,” and 36 percent said not at all.

Sixty percent of those polled said a government official who accepts free trips and the use of a car without disclosure should be prosecuted for a crime.

It bears to mention that among the same pool of respondents, only six of 10 correctly identified Easley as a Democrat. About a fifth identified him as a Republican, a fifth as an Independent, and another 13 percent said they were unsure of the former Governor’s party affiliation.

The state’s pair of U.S. Senators, Republican Richard Burr and Democrat Kay Hagan, did not fair well in the two polls either.

Both earned favorable ratings of 39 percent in the Southern Political Report poll, but Hagan had an eight-point higher unfavorable rating at 39 percent.

Only Burr’s numbers were tracked in the Civitas poll, which showed a higher incidence of uncertainty on the elected official. Nearly a third, 30 percent, said they had no opinion of him, while roughly the same number reported a favorable opinion, 19 percent unfavorable and 20 percent unaware.

The poll also identified individual taxation proposals to cure the state’s budget ills and asked respondents whether they supported or opposed the measures.

The additional taxation of small businesses was the most unpopular measure, with 92 percent responding they opposed the concept, and only 5 percent supported it.

Raising the state’s income tax was also unpopular with those polled. About a quarter of them supported the measure, while 69 percent opposed it and six percent were unsure.

The other three issues breached in the survey involved enacting sales tax on concert and movie tickets, home and auto repairs and the shipping of products through FedEx and UPS.

Imposing the tax on concert and movie tickets garnered the least opposition of the three, with 42 percent in support and 53 percent opposition.

Taxing home and auto repairs was opposed by 79 percent of those polled, while 17 percent supported the measure. Two-thirds opposed a sales tax on shipping, while 27 percent supported it.

The entire body of the poll, along with corresponding press releases and public policy analysis can be found on the Institute’s website, www.nccivitas.org.

The Southern Political Report figures may also be found on the Internet at www.pollster.com/polls/nc/jobapproval-govperdue.php.