Civitas Poll Reveals Views of Unaffiliated Voters | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's note: This post, by the Civitas Staff, was originally published in of Civitas's online edition.

    Civitas' annual poll of unaffiliated North Carolina voters provides insights into the views of this key voting bloc as the state heads into the election season.

    This poll of 400 registered unaffiliated voters in North Carolina was conducted Aug. 23-25, and has a margin of error of plus/minus 4.9 percent.

    Unaffiliated voters comprise nearly 27 percent of North Carolina's registered voters. To learn more about the NC electorate, go to Carolina Transparency.
Photo above is from our Aug. 28 poll lunch, at which Civitas President Francis X. De Luca and noted political consultant Brad Crone of Campaign Connections analyzed the poll.

Text of questions:

    "Do you feel things in North Carolina are generally headed in the right direction or have gotten off on the wrong track?"

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

29% 25% 31% 30% 19% Right Direction

53% 61% 56% 56% 68% Wrong Track

17% 14% 13% 14% 13% Don't Know/Unsure

1% – – – – Refused

    "And could you give an example of one issue where you feel North Carolina is getting it right?" (open-ended, for those who answered "right track")

16% Teacher pay/ Salary increase for teachers

13% Education/ Improving schools (Non-specific)

13% Taxes/ Keeping taxes low

13% Jobs

11% Economy

8% Transportation

8% Pensions/ Retirement plan for state workers

7% Voting reform/ Voter ID laws

7% Current government/ Approve of the Governor

7% Budget/ Paying off debt

4% Environment/ Fracking

3% People/ Diversity

1% Gun laws

1% Health care

1% Morals/ Values

1% Other

9% None/ Nothing

6% Don't Know

    "And could you give an example of one issue where you feel North Carolina is getting it wrong?" (open-ended, for those who answered "wrong direction")

35% Education (Non-specific)

18% Teacher pay/ Need to pay teachers more

13% Health care/ ObamaCare/ Medicaid

10% Voting rights/ Restrictive voting laws

9% Morals/ Values

8% Current government

8% Jobs

7% Taxes

5% Budget/ Spending

4% Environment/ Fracking

3% Economy

2% Other

4% None/ Nothing

2% Don't Know

    "And thinking about the United States for a moment...do you feel things in the United States are generally headed in the right direction or have gotten off on the wrong track?"

16% Right Direction

69% Wrong Track

14% Don't Know/Unsure

    "And if the election for State Legislature were held today, would you be voting for the..."

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

39% 32% 37% 29% 28% Republican

27% 29% 32% 39% 33% Democratic

15% 14% 6% 16% 14% Neither

18% 24% 23% 15% 25% Don't Know

1% 1% 2% 1% 1% Refused

    "Please tell me some of the reasons you would vote for a Republican for State Legislator over a Democrat." (open-ended, for those planning to vote Republican)

20% Dislike Democrats/ Don't like the way they're running the country

19% Fiscal responsibility/ Balanced budget/ Cut spending

17% Conservative/ Political stance

11% Morals/ Values

10% Favorable/ Agree with what they stand for/ Want to see them in office (General)

9% Effectiveness/ Republicans will do a better job/ Democrats have done nothing

4% Taxes/ Lower taxes

4% For the people/ Democrats aren't representing the people

4% Health care/ ObamaCare

3% Obama/ Voting against Obama

3% Time for a change

3% Education/ Treatment of teachers

2% Entitlements/ Welfare reform/ Democrats want to give everything away

1% Jobs

– Economy

5% None/ Nothing/ Don't like Republicans/ Wouldn't vote for any of them

5% Don't Know

    "Please tell me some of the reasons you would vote for a Democrat for State Legislator over a Republican." (open-ended, for those planning to vote Democratic)

23% Effectiveness/ Republicans aren't doing anything

18% Dislike Republicans/ Dislike their stances (Non-specific)

15% Democrats are for the people/ For the lower class/ Republicans are only for the wealthy

12% Favorable to Democrats/ Agree with what they stand for/ Want to see them in office (General)

12% Education/ Republicans are against teachers

9% Morals/ Values

5% Women's rights/ Women's issues

5% Health care/ Like Democrat health care stance/ Republicans won't fund ObamaCare

4% Environment

4% Economy/ Better economy under Democrats

2% Voting law/ Republicans are against minority voting rights

1% Republicans only care about themselves

– Other

3% None/ Nothing/ Don't like Democrats/ Wouldn't vote for any of them

6% Don't Know

    "When you think about voting for North Carolina offices like the state legislature, what issue or problem should be their highest priority?" (asked of all respondents)

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

41% 45% 45% 32% 23% Economy and jobs

15% 16% 19% 32% 32% Improving public education

4% 4% 3% 4% 4% Holding down taxes

7% 5% 5% 8% 7% Reducing healthcare costs

5% 4% 4% 5% 6% Government Corruption

2% 2% 3% 4% 7% Moral Issues

17% 14% 14% 9% 6% Budget/Spending

7% 2% 4% 4% 10% Illegal Immigration

2% All of them/ Everything/ All of the Above

1% 5% 2% 2% 1% Other

2% 3% 1% 2% 2% Not sure

    "Now I am going to read you a list of people active in politics. After I read each name, please tell me if you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of that person. If you have never heard of them just tell me and we'll go on to the next one...the (first/next) one is..."

FAVORABLE UNFAVORABLE HEARD OF NO OPIN NEVER HEARD OF

Barack Obama

2014 48% 47% 5% –

2013 44% 46% 10% –

2012 49% 45% 6% 1%

2011 46% 47% 6% 1%

2010 42% 49% 8% –

Pat McCrory

2014 36% 41% 18% 5%

2013 38% 39% 16% 7%

2012 45% 24% 22% 9%

Thom Tillis

2014 17% 43% 24% 16%

Kay Hagan

2014 43% 43% 12% 1%

2013 35% 24% 28% 12%

    "Do you approve or disapprove of the job that Barack Obama is doing as President?"

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

44% 44% 50% 51% 48% Total Approve

52% 52% 47% 45% 46% Total Disapprove

20% 17% 27% 21% 16% Strongly Approve

24% 27% 23% 30% 32% Somewhat Approve

10% 17% 9% 9% 11% Somewhat Disapprove

43% 35% 38% 35% 35% Strongly Disapprove

4% 5% 2% 4% 6% Undecided/Don't Know

– – 1% – – Refused

    "In the November 2014 election, how do you intend to vote?"

50% On Election Day

43% At a One Stop Voting Location before Election Day

3% Absentee Ballot

2% Not going to vote

3% Don't know/refused

    "If the election for U.S. Senate were held today and you had to make a choice, for whom would you vote if the candidates were:"

27% Thom Tillis, the Republican

39% Kay Hagan, the Democrat

8% Sean Haugh, the Libertarian

23% Lean/Undecided

19% DEFINITELY TILLIS

4% DEFINITELY HAUGH

8% PROBABLY TILLIS

5% PROBABLY HAUGH

4% LEAN TILLIS

4% LEAN HAUGH

31% DEFINITELY HAGAN

12% HARD UNDECIDED

8% PROBABLY HAGAN

1% OTHER

3% LEAN HAGAN

2% REFUSED