CIVITAS POLL GIVES SOLID LEAD TO McCRORY OVER DEMOCRAT HOPEFULS.

March 27, 2012
CONTACT: Jim Tynen (919) 834-2099
James.Tynen@NCCivitas.org

Raleigh, N.C. – The latest poll from the John W. Pope Civitas Institute shows former Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory maintaining a solid lead over all likely Democratic challengers.

Registered voters were asked who they'd vote for if the election were held today and the candidates were McCrory, a Republican, and former U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge, a Democrat. Forty-nine percent picked McCrory; 34 percent chose Etheridge.

McCrory, the favorite for the GOP nomination, also bested Lt. Governor Walter Dalton by 48 percent to 32 percent in the poll. State Rep. Bill Faison (D-Orange) was supported by 28 percent of respondents, with McCrory the choice of 51 percent of voters.
The results showed little change from last month's Civitas Poll.

"Primary campaigns usually boost one candidate's profile compared to the other party's hopefuls," Civitas President Francis X. De Luca said. "That hasn't happened here yet. McCrory will start the general election race with a base of voters being 'definitely' in support of him. After the May 8 primary, the Democratic nominee will likely have a steep hill to climb."

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

Full text of questions: 


If the election for Governor were held today and you had to make a choice, for whom would you vote if the candidates were: Pat McCrory, the Republican or Walter Dalton, the Democrat?

2/12     3/12
49%    48%    Total McCrory
30%    32%    Total Dalton
37%     36%     Definitely McCrory
10%     10%     Probably McCrory
2%       2%       Lean McCrory
20%     18%     Undecided (DO NOT READ)
2%       2%       Lean Dalton
7%       9%       Probably Dalton
20%     21%     Definitely Dalton
2%       2%       Refused

If the election for Governor were held today and you had to make a choice, for whom would you vote if the candidates were: Pat McCrory, the Republican or Bob Etheridge, the Democrat?

2/12     3/12
46%    49%    Total McCrory
32%    34%    Total Etheridge
36%     36%     Definitely McCrory
9%       10%     Probably McCrory
2%       3%       Lean McCrory
19%     15%     Undecided
2%       3%       Lean Etheridge
9%       9%       Probably Etheridge
21%     23%     Definitely Etheridge
2%       2%       Refused

If the election for Governor were held today and you had to make a choice, for whom would you vote if the candidates were: Pat McCrory, the Republican or Bill Faison, the Democrat?

2/12     3/12
48%    51%    Total McCrory
27%    28%    Total Faison
38%     37%     Definitely McCrory
9%       11%     Probably McCrory
1%       3%       Lean McCrory
22%     19%     Undecided
2%       2%       Lean Faison
8%       7%       Probably Faison
18%     20%     Definitely Faison
3%       2%       Refused

Likely GOP gubernatorial candidate Pat McCrory raised $1M in first half of 2011.

Verne Strickland Blogmaster / July 27, 2011

By: Associated Press
July 27, 2011 

RALEIGH -- Likely Republican gubernatorial candidate Pat McCrory has raised more than $1 million for the first half of the year for a campaign that has yet to officially start.

The draft of a campaign finance document being filed with state regulators this week and obtained by The Associated Press shows The Pat McCrory Committee raised just over $1 million between January 1 and June 30. The campaign had $940,000 in the bank at the end of last month.

The amounts are the strongest indication yet McCrory wants a rematch with Democratic Gov. Beverly Perdue next year. Perdue narrowly defeated McCrory in 2008.

Perdue hasn't announced her campaign numbers. Candidate committees must turn in their reports by Friday.

http://coastal.news14.com/content/top_stories/644437/likely-gop-candidate-mccrory-raises--1m

Poll: Perdue trails McCrory by eight points as Democratic base erodes. Oh boy!

Verne Strickland Blogmaster

Submitted by WWAY on Fri, 07/15/2011 - 11:51am.

RALEIGH, NC (WWAY) -- A new poll shows Republican Pat McCrory with a solid lead in hypothetical rematch of his 2008 race against Gov. Bev Perdue.

Raleigh-based Public Policy Polling found McCrory leads the incumbent Democrat 47 percent to 39 percent. McCrory gets 83 percent of the Republican vote, while only 67 percent of Democrats will commit to voting for Perdue. And she trails by a 57/28 margin with independents as well.

PPP says the story with Perdue's poll numbers doesn't change much. Just 34 percent of voters this month say they're happy with the job Perdue's doing while 49 percent disapprove.

The biggest obstacle to Perdue seeing a significant improvement in her numbers, according to the poll continues, is a lack of support for her from Democrats. 

Only 55 percent of them give her good marks to 25 percent who dissent. PPP's analysts say you usually expect a governor to be at 70 or higher with voters in their own party. With independents, Perdue gets just a 31-percent approval rating compared to 57 percent who disapprove.

PPP says McCrory is a pretty popular figure, with 29 percent of voters rating him favorably to 23 percent with a negative opinion of him. The pollsters say 48 percent with no opinion indicates a lot of voters have already forgotten McCrory since his 2008 campaign, so he will have a lot of reintroducing of himself to do once he formally enters the race.

For more analysis on this poll check out http://publicpolicypolling.blogspot.com/2011/07/perdue-trails-mccrory-by...

Complete text of Pat McCrory's landmark speech at 2011 N.C. Republican Convention in Port City

Verne Strickland Blogmaster  /  June 7, 2011

 When former Charlotte mayor Pat McCrory took the podium this past week-end at the North Carolina GOP convention, he was ready to do business.

McCrory, who is expected to be in the 2012 gubernatorial race challenging incumbent Democrat Beverly Perdue, got it all said in a rousing oratory gem that had delegates on their feet cheering repeatedly during the Saturday afternoon program. 

I was as impressed as everyone else, and mentioned in an earlier post that I would pass along the complete text of McCrory's stem-winder of a talk, which has all the makings of a superb stump speech for his anticipated campaign. 

Here it is: 

In 1998 when I was 32 years old, my boss came into my office at Duke Power and handed me a “package”. The package meant my job position no longer existed along with 1,000 other layoffs that same day. It was a punch straight in the gut. The pain of that day for me will never be forgotten.

In North Carolina since 2008 over 300,000 thousand jobs have been lost ALL in the private sector. Your friends, neighbors, colleagues, relatives, and even many of you also had the same gut punch of losing a job.

We now have NC college graduates returning to their parents' home with no job prospects in sight. We have small business men and women barely hanging onto keep their doors open.

And yet what is our Governor doing . . ? Attending Kentucky horse races, a fund raiser in New York and Chicago. . . raising money from unions and trial lawyers against tort reform, and money from the gaming industry.

What is our Governor doing? Saying she won’t raise taxes and then raising your sales tax, your income tax, and business and corporate tax . . . forcing small business to either leave our state or shut down.

What is our Governor doing? Joining the team of Easley, and Edwards by having to raise and use campaign funds to hire high-priced lawyers because of FBI investigations.

        
It must be hard to find a good defense lawyer in Raleigh today. They are all taken by our ex and current governor and senator. What a shame and embarrassment!   

 What is our Governor doing? Implementing a psuedo “Government job freeze”, hiring defeated U.S. Congressman Bob Etheridge, hiring a new executive chef,  and hiring Obama Chicago political consultants on the state payroll .This is her jobs program.

Perdue is growing government positions faster than 47 other states!

 It is time for you, and for me, to call our Governor out for her absolute lack of leadership. We have had enough, Governor, while you have used Tax Resources to go on political "job and education" tours, while you demagogue and mislead, create Executive orders out of thin air, while you lose your temper, stomp your feet and become spitting mad, while others in our state capital are making the tough decisions and leading.

        
Governor – YOU have made yourself irrelevant -- at a time when our state desperately needed your leadership.

        
Now I will tell you who has NOT become irrelevant. Those state Republicans who the people in this audience helped get elected in 2010. Tom Tillis and Phil Berger are leaders who did not stay on the sidelines! They formed a bipartisan coalition. They trimmed the fat of the bureaucracy. They cut taxes as promised.

They have begun reform of education, and NOT accepted the status quo – not accepting being ranked 43rd in the nation for high school graduation rates. They have helped small business.

Now let me warn each of you here today -- Perdue and President Obama will not go away quietly. They want to hold on to their political power at any cost. In 2012 - MILLIONS of dollars will pour into our state from Big Labor Unions. Thousands of ACORN-style of workers will move to North Carolina. They will fight voter ID. They will try to change our “right-to-work” laws. They will bring “Wisconsin” style political behavior as we saw in our own state legislative chambers this past week.

Ladies and gentlemen these are not conservative Democrats coming to North Carolina. These are the radicals… in fact they are bringing the National Democratic Convention to our doorstep.

Now, I am pleased to report that Chairman Hayes is instituting a grassroots program. We will knock on doors, we will Tweet, Facebook, and Text. We will reach out to Independents and Democrats who want to change the status quo. In 1988, after I lost my job, I thankfully landed back on myfeet and got a new job in the private sector.

That is our goal for everyone.. – to rebuild our economy through the private sector –  quit living on personal credit cards and a government credit card. We will not accept Governor Perdue's so-called  "New Normal".

We will make the tough decisions, so the next generation can continue the great quality of life in North Carolina. It is time for “Serious and Strong Leadership”.

Now that means there is ONE person who must lose their job, and she lives in a Mansion in Raleigh.

Civitas Poll: Voters say sign the bill -- keep government open, continue unemployment benefits.

Verne Strickland Blogmaster

April 15, 2011

WHAT WILL GOV. BEV PURDUE DO?  AND WHY DO THEY CALL HER 'BEV'?

Raleigh, N.C. – Sign the Unemployment/No Government Shutdown bill is the message from voters to Democrat Governor Bev Perdue according to a new SurveyUSA poll released today by the Civitas Institute.

According to the poll of 500 registered voters in that district, 53 percent said Perdue should sign the bill while 31 percent said she should veto the bill. Fifteen percent said they were not sure.


Voters also continue to disapprove of her performance with 52 percent disapproving of her performance and 40 percent approving. Eight percent said they were not sure. In a head to head match-up of the 2008 gubernatorial race, Pat McCrory has a 51% to 39% advantage among voters surveyed.

“Governor Perdue has a growing problem with each bill she vetoes,” said Civitas Institute President Francis De Luca. “Perdue alienates a few more voters with every veto, especially independents who want to see spending cut and see politicians get things accomplished,” added De Luca.

On the issue of charging state employees premiums for their health care insurance, voters side with charging a fee by a 62% to 35% margin and against spending an additional $14 million to keep coverage free by a margin of 63% to 32%.

Perdue’s veto of the state employee health care bill could cost her in 2012 with 44 percent of voters saying it would make them less likely to vote for her and 20 percent saying it would make them more likely to vote for her.

The survey of 500 registered voters was taken April 14 by SurveyUSA on behalf of the Civitas Institute using the Interactive Voice Response (IVR) method. It carries a margin of error of +/- 4.5%.

http://www.nccivitas.org/