Majority think Burr should resign; Tillis unpopular too

PPP’s newest North Carolina poll finds that a majority of North Carolinians think Richard Burr should resign, and that his approval numbers have plummeted since revelations last week about his stock sales in the wake of the coronavirus.

50% of voters in the state think Burr should resign to 24% who think he should remain in office. Democrats (63/15) and independents (53/18) both think he should resign by wide margins but what might be most surprising is that even Republicans (31/38) only narrowly say Burr doesn’t need to resign.

Only 22% of voters approve of the job Burr’s doing to 54% who disapprove. When PPP last polled on him in June he had a 32/36 approval spread- since then his disapproval is up 18 points and his approval has dropped by 10 points.

When voters are informed later in the poll about his 1.7 million dollars in stock sales, 69% say that gives them ‘very serious’ concerns about him and support for his resignation goes up to 60%, with 22% opposed.

Thom Tillis isn’t in very good standing with North Carolinians either. 26% approve of the job he’s doing to 47% who disapprove. The Affordable Care Act is in the spotlight this week upon its 10th anniversary, and on the specific issue of health care, just 24% approve of the job he’s doing to 48% who disapprove.

A few years ago Tillis expressed the view that restaurants shouldn’t be required to make their employees wash their hands on the job. In the current crisis, 76% of voters say that Tillis’ comments on this issue give them ‘very serious’ concerns about him, which includes 84% of Democrats, 77% of independents, and 66% of Republicans.

Roy Cooper and Donald Trump are getting very different reviews when it comes to their handling of the coronavirus. Cooper gets overwhelmingly positive marks for his leadership with 63% approving and just 19% disapproving of the job he’s doing. He gets good feedback from Democrats (78%), independents (56%), and Republicans (50%) alike. His overall approval now stands around the highest level of his term at 56/26.

Views on Trump’s leadership in the crisis are much more mixed. 49% approve of the job he’s doing on it to 45% who disapprove. While 87% of Republicans think he’s doing a good job, independents split against him (45/51), and he gets just 21% approval from Democrats. His overall approval in the state is on slightly negative ground with 47% of voters approving of the job he’s doing and 48% disapproving.

Only 20% of North Carolinians think the actions that have been taken with regards to the coronavirus constitute overreacting. 36% think there’s been an under reaction, and 40% think the response has been about right.

PPP interviewed 896 North Carolina voters on March 22nd and 23rd on behalf of Piedmont Rising and Progress NC Action. The margin of error is +/-3.3% and the full results are here