Budd leads Beasley by 5% in new poll of U.S. Senate race in N.C. | Eastern NC Now

    Publisher's Note: This post appears here courtesy of the Carolina Journal. The author of this post is David Bass.

    Republican candidate for U.S. Senate Ted Budd has a comfortable lead over Democratic opponent Cheri Beasley in North Carolina, according to the results of a new Civitas poll.

    Budd, who represents the state's 13th congressional district, garnered 45% support among likely voters. That compares to 40% support for Beasley, a former chief justice of the N.C. Supreme Court. Green Party candidate Matthew Hoh secured about 1% and Libertarian candidate Shannon Bray 3%. Eleven percent remained undecided.

    The results are in contrast to a recent WRAL News poll, which put Beasley ahead of Budd 44% to 40%.

    "North Carolinians have been thrown into an unstable economy courtesy of short-sighted monetary policy at the federal level. The Fed's 'print and run' the economy hot approach is hitting voters in the most personal of ways, such as limiting their ability to feed and shelter their families and commute to work," said John Locke Foundation President Donald Bryson.

    On the two races for seats on the N.C. Supreme Court, Republicans appear to be shoring up their advantage, with Republican candidates Richard Dietz and Trey Allen securing 49% support apiece compared to 38% support for Democrat Lucy Inman and 39% support for Democrat Sam Ervin.

    Republicans also shored up their advantage on the generic congressional and legislative race matchups, according to the survey's results. Fifty-one percent would pick a Republican on a generic ballot for the General Assembly and 39% say they would pick a Democrat. For Congress, 51% would pick the GOP and 41% a Democrat.

    President Joe Biden's approval rating continued to remain low at 33% compared to 60% who disapprove. Gov. Roy Cooper remained even in his performance rating, with 44% approving and 44% disapproving. Seventy-eight percent of respondents said Biden has "all" or "some" responsibility for inflation. Eighty-nine percent said inflation in the U.S. was "a huge problem."

    The trendline continues downward on sentiment about whether the U.S. is headed in the right or wrong direction, with 22% saying right track and 72% saying wrong track.

    Seventy-seven percent believe the U.S. is currently in a recession, with 13% saying the nation is not. Asked which metric they believe most indicates whether the country is in a recession, the runaway favorite was "prices of goods and services" at 63%.

    Asked "how difficult or easy do you find it to afford food right now?" 59% said "difficult" and 18% said "easy." The same question on gas yielded 76% saying "difficult" and 11% "easy."

    On the question of what is to blame for high gas prices, 32% said the war in Ukraine compared to 61% who said the policies of the federal government.

    A majority of respondents believe that former President Donald Trump legitimately won the election in 2016 (68%) and President Biden legitimately won in 2020 (58%).

    The survey was conducted June 17 to 19, 2022, with 600 likely general election voters.