North Carolinians favor override of Perdue veto of voter photo ID by nearly 2 to 1 | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's Note: This article originally appeared in the Beaufort Observer.

Nonetheless, the N C House sustains veto

    Six in 10 North Carolina voters disagree with Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue's recent veto of a bill requiring a government-issued photo ID to vote, according to a new poll released by the Civitas Institute.

    Sixty percent of voters said they disagree with Perdue's veto of voter photo ID legislation. Thirty-seven percent said they agree with her veto and four percent said they do not know or do not have an opinion.

    Voters in all age groups and regions of the state oppose the governor's veto. Voters between the ages of 18-25 oppose a veto by a margin of 78 percent against a veto with only 18 percent supporting it. In the key older demographic of 66+ voters, 57 percent disagree with the veto and only 39 percent agree with the governor's veto of photo ID legislation.
North Carolina General Assembly Building with the Natural History in the foreground.     photo by Stan Deatherage
    "Photo ID for voting is a popular issue with voters seeing it as a commonsense safeguard to make sure that the phrase 'one man one vote' means what it says," said Civitas Institute President Francis De Luca.

    As state legislators prepare to take up veto overrides this week, voter sentiment about Gov. Perdue's veto of a bill requiring photo ID when voting is clear. Fifty-six percent of voters said they would be more likely to vote for a legislator who voted to override Perdue's veto while 34 percent said they would be less likely to support a legislator who does so. Six percent said it would make no difference and four percent said they do not know.

    "Any time the governor issues a veto you will see her partisan supporters rally even if they may not agree on a particular issue, accounting for most of what appears to be a drop in support on this issue," added De Luca. "Partisan leanings are a fact of life, but the legislators and governor should understand this issue is still important to unaffiliated voters and ticket-splitters."

    Previous Civitas polling on voter ID can be found at www.nccivitas.org.

    The Civitas Poll is the only regular live-caller poll of critical issues facing North Carolina. For more information on Civitas polling see http://www.nccivitas.org/category/poll/.

    Full Text of Questions:

    "Recently Governor Perdue vetoed a bill requiring a government-issued photo ID be shown when voting. If a person could not afford an ID, one would be given to them at no charge. Do you agree or disagree with Governor Perdue's veto of the bill requiring a government-issued photo ID to vote?"

    Total Agree - 37%

    Total Disagree - 60%

    Strongly Agree - 25%

    Somewhat Agree - 12%

    Somewhat Disagree - 13%

    Strongly Disagree - 47%

    Don't Know/No Opinion - 4%

    "Would you be more or less likely to vote for a legislator who voted to override or overturn Governor Perdue's veto of the bill requiring a government-issued photo ID be shown when voting?"

    Total More Likely - 56%

    Total Less Likely - 34%

    Much More Likely - 35%

    Somewhat More Likely - 21%

    Somewhat Less Likely - 15%

    Much Less Likely - 20%

    No Difference - 6%

    Don't Know/Refused - 4%

    Click here for full results and crosstabs.

    This poll of 600 registered general election voters in North Carolina was conducted July 12-13, 2011 by National Research, Inc. of Holmdel, NJ. All respondents were part of a fully representative sample of registered voters in North Carolina. For purposes of this study, voters interviewed had to have voted in at least one of the past three general elections (2006, 2008, 2010) or be newly registered to vote since November 2, 2010.

    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." True Values refer to the results obtained if it were possible to interview every person in North Carolina who had voted in at least one of the past three general elections or is newly registered since November 2, 2010.

    Nonetheless, the NC House on Tuesday (7-26-11) voted 67-52, five votes short, to sustain Perdue's of the voter photo ID bill. House leaders say the issue is not dead and if they can muster the 72 votes needed they will bring it back up for another vote.