Source:  NC Civitas Institute, 2/14/11

Sixty-five percent of North Carolina voters say Governor Bev Perdue should sign the Balanced Budget Act of 2011 just passed by the General Assembly, according to a new poll released today by the Civitas Institute.

Sixty-five percent of voters, when given information on the bill said they think Perdue should sign the bill. Eighteen percent said they think she should veto it and 18 percent said they do not know or did not answer.

“Voters seem to be in support of this first step to balance next year’s budget,” said Civitas Institute President Francis De Luca.  “In 2010 voters were telling us that they were concerned with spending and this seems to be a continuation of that concern.”

There is broad agreement among the parties, with Democrats most in support of Perdue signing the bill (66 percent – 18 percent), followed by Republicans (64 percent – 17 percent), and then unaffiliated voters (63 percent – 18 percent).

“The governor has sent signals she intends to veto this legislation,” added De Luca.  “Right now voters do not agree that a veto of spending cuts is the right thing to do – not even those voters in Perdue’s own party.”

The Civitas Poll is the only monthly live-caller poll of critical issues facing North Carolina.  For more information on Civitas polling see www.nccivitas.org/category/poll/.

Full text of questions:
“The state legislature passed a bill cutting $800 million from the current year’s budget to help balance next year’s budget which is projected to have a $3.7 billion dollar deficit. The money would come from various unspent accounts including some job development programs and industrial recruitment funds. No current programs, projects or jobs would be eliminated. Should the governor sign or veto this bill?”

Sign Bill – 65%
Veto Bill – 18%
Don’t Know/Other/Refused – 18%

Click here for full results and crosstabs. 

This poll of 600 registered general election voters in North Carolina was conducted February 10 and 12 – 13, 2011 by National Research, Inc. of Holmdel, NJ.  All respondents were part of a fully representative sample of registered voters in North Carolina.  For purposes of this study, voters interviewed had to have voted in two of the past four general elections or were newly registered to vote since 2008.

The confidence interval associated with a sample of this size is such that: 95 percent of the time, results from 600 interviews (registered voters) will be within +-4% of the “True Values.” True Values refer to the results obtained if it were possible to interview every person in North Carolina who had voted in two of the past four general elections or were newly registered to vote since 2008.