McCrory still unpopular, opposition to gay marriage declines
Published April 13, 2014
by Public Policy Polling, April 10, 2014.
PPP's newest North Carolina poll finds that Pat McCrory remains unpopular, and would find himself in a toss up contest for reelection. 40% of voters approve of the job McCrory's doing to 45% who disapprove. This marks the 10th month in a row McCrory's approval numbers have been under water. McCrory finds himself tied in a hypothetical contest with Attorney General Roy Cooper at 43%. Cooper is unknown to 50% of North Carolinians, but among those who do have an opinion about him 33% see him favorably to 17% with a negative view.
PPP continues to find that North Carolina is likely to maintain its new found swing state status in 2016 if Hillary Clinton is the Democratic candidate for President. Clinton leads all of her potential Republican opponents in the state by small margins- it's 45/44 over Jeb Bush, 46/44 over Chris Christie, 47/43 over Rand Paul, and 48/43 over Mike Huckabee.
In 2012 North Carolinians voted by a 22 point margin to ban gay marriage in the state. Now less than 2 years later voters say they oppose gay marriage by only 13 points, mirroring the kind of movement we've seen on the issue across the country. 40% say they think it should be legal to 53% who continue to think it should be illegal. Showing the direction things are headed in on the issue, 62% of young voters support it to only 33% who believe it should be illegal. There is increasingly little division among voters in the state about whether gay couples should at least have some sort of legal rights in the form of civil unions. 62% support either marriage or civil unions for same sex couples to only 34% who think they should have no legal recognition at all. 68% of both Democrats and independents support at least civil unions, and even Republicans narrowly do by a 50/48 spread.
“At the rate things are moving a plurality of North Carolinians will likely support gay marriage in the next 5 years or so,” said Dean Debnam, President of Public Policy Polling. “There’s been a lot of movement just in the last 2 years and that’s likely to continue.”
PPP surveyed 740 registered voters from April 3rd to 6th, including 314 Republican primary voters. The margin of error for the overall survey is +/- 3.6%, and for the Republicans it’s +/-5.5%. 80% of interviews for the poll were conducted over the phone with 20% interviewed over the internet to reach respondents who don’t have landline telephones.
