Civitas Poll shows Trump gaining support, 50% approve job Cooper is doing

by Matt Caulder, Capitol Connection, March 23, 2017.

The Civitas Institute released its most recent poll numbers Thursday at a luncheon in downtown Raleigh, and the survey showed President Trump’s favorability rating in the state as positive for the first time since taking office in January.

The Institute’s polling showed Trump’s favorable rating at 49 percent, with 48 percent rating him unfavorably, compared to a 46 to 48 split last month.’

The poll also showed that new Gov. Roy Cooper was viewed favorably by 50 percent of voters, with 31 percent viewing him unfavorably. Last year in June, in his role as attorney general, Cooper was rated in the 30s for favorability, signaling that people seem to prefer Cooper in his new role, so far.

Looking to job approval ratings, Trump also gets good news in the state: 49 percent also approved of how he was doing, with 46 disapproving of his job as president. Trump picked up gains across all segments of the population and not just one segment, seeming to show a generally improving view of him.

“Donald Trump has gained 4 points in terms of his favorability ratings since our poll in February,” Civitas President Francis De Luca said. “Not only is this his highest level of favorability ever, but we cannot point to any single demographic as a reason for this increase, since he is up across the board. It would seem people are becoming more comfortable with Trump as president.”

When asked about the media treatment of Trump, 52 percent of respondents said that they do not believe the media has been fair in their coverage of him, while 41 percent said that they believe coverage was fair.

“While only 49 percent say they have a favorable view of Trump, 52 percent feel he is not being treated fairly by the media,” De Luca said. “Only 41 percent feel he has. We believe there is an undercurrent of support for President Trump reflected in this number that we might not see in the rest of the poll.”

Cooper grabbed a 50 percent job approval rating and a 27 percent disapproval rating.

The luncheon, and a portion of the poll, this month was sponsored by a group seeking to increase the cap on self-distributing craft beer in the state, Craft Freedom. Some new questions to the poll focused on the subject of craft beer.

When asked whether the state should reform beer brewery regulation to encourage the continued growth of the industry, which has exploded in the state in the last 10 years, 60 percent of respondents said yes, while 28 percent said no.

A whopping 78 percent of respondents said that beer producers should be allowed to self-distribute their own beer instead of being forced to hand off distribution to a third-party when they reach a certain production size.

Only 6 percent said that the state should require brewers to use distributors, as it currently does.

A bill filed by Rep. Michael Speciale (R-Craven) would increase the current 25,000-barrel limit at which brewers must use distributors to deliver their beer to customers to 100,000 barrels.

Speciale’s bill is currently in the committee on Alcoholic Beverage Control with serial referrals to Commerce and Job Development and then Finance before it could see time on the House floor.