#ncpol: Oh, look. A Poll !!!
Civitas has released some polling on the political environment in North Carolina. (I, for one, am surprised that they had the courage to do it — given their total submission to and beatdown by Bert & Ernie not long ago.) 
Here are some of their more interesting findings:
- Fifty percent of respondents believe North Carolina is headed in the “wrong direction.” (Thirty-three percent think all is well.)
- Democrats lead Republicans 39-35 percent on a generic state legislature ballot.
- Donald Trump has 47 percent job approval.
- The western, Piedmont, and northeastern regions of the state are the most pro-Trump.
- Roy Cooper has a 53-34 percent approve-disapprove rating. (Both have been dropping steadily since May.)
- Democrats lead the generic congressional ballot in the state for 2018 by a 40-34 margin.
- Thom Tillis has 29% favorability. (He is viewed least favorably in southeastern North Carolina.)
- Tillis’s high point was a 37-47 favorable-unfavorable rating in October 2014. He has dropped like a rock since — to 29-33.
- Only 25% favor appointing state judges.
- Sixty-three percent say leave Confederate monuments alone.
- Sixty-four percent favor a smaller government with fewer services.
interesting changes!
Somehow, these numbers for Republicans make sense, as both our legislature and Congress have damaged the GOP brand since the last election. They seem to many GOP base voters not to be doing much to advance GOP / conservative policy, while they too often surrender on Democrat / liberal policy. I fear this will not end well. Off year elections, like the one coming up depend on firing up your base, and GOP politicians seem to be doing just the opposite. Most of the problem comes from out of touch leadership in both the legislature and Congress which has a stranglehold on legislation and too often block policy popular with the base or support policy unpopular with the base.
At the state level, the big issue the GOP has a problem with is their repeal of HB2. Many Christian conservatives I talk to are still very angry over that and have lost trust for GOP legislators as a result. Many are not terribly motivated to turn out, and for those who do, having an R by your name no longer equates to trust by this important constituency,
The second biggest isssue I hear is about the GOP stalling the gun rights bill in the legislature. There are A LOT of single issue 2nd amendment voters out there, and they are becoming increasingly uneasy with our legislators.
I hear more than I expected about the solar energy fiasco passed in the last session. More and more folks are waking up that pandering to these crony capitalists is NOT good for our electric rates. The GOP legislature has blown it big time on this one, too.
Some who follow the doings of the legislature are also aware that in the last budget, the GOP delayed our tax cut to beef up spending on Democrat priorities. For those aware of this one, which admitted is less than the other three, people are furious and losing trust with our legislators.
For Congress, the big one I hear about on the ground is the failure to pass Obamacare repeal, and the fact that even the “repeal” bills were terribly watered down. Voters in the trenches are extremely angry over this one, and once the word gets out that Burr has sponsored a bill to rescue Obamacare and both Burr and Tillis voted against Sen. Mike Lee’s motion to repeal the most onerous parts of Obamacare, this has a huge potential to damage the GOP brand in NC beyond just Burr and Tillis. These idiots are playing with fire as to the whole party.
The second biggest issue I hear the grassroots disgusted with is amnesty for illegal aliens, and here Tillis’ heavy involvement on the liberal side is fairly well known and becoming more so. Again, Tillis leading the left on the amnesty issue has a lot of potential to hurt the whole party in NC.
The only issue I hear much positive about on the ground with either the GOP majority in Congress or the legislature is the US Senate’s approval of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court. Now, Trump is another matter, and most GOP base voters are generally happy with him.
If 2018 turns into a referendum on Trump, I think our base voters will come out to show their support of Trump, in spite of their growing unease with the record of the GOP majorities in the legislature and Congress. If the election turns on the records of Congress and the legislature, we may be in serious trouble.
Both Congress and the legislature really need to start moving some legislation that conservatives care about, and quit passing legislation that gives the grassroots heartburn. For example, they do NOT need to shoot themselves in the foot by passing any form of amnesty for illegal aliens.
How many cell phones did they call? Don’t know how one does a reliable poll these days.