HPU Poll: North Carolinians Respond to the 2022 Election Results
State residents saw a lot of negative campaigning in 2022 and do not expect the political parties to work together in Washington or in Raleigh.

In a new High Point University Poll, about one-third (32%) of North Carolinians said they have a lot of confidence that the 2022 election results accurately reflect the votes that were cast, and another 39% said they have some confidence in the results. Only 20% said they have no confidence in the election results.

Approximately one in five (20%) of North Carolinians said they were very satisfied with the choice of candidates in the 2022 elections while a near majority (49%) said they were somewhat satisfied. Only 18% said they were not at all satisfied.

North Carolinians noticed a lot of negativity and mudslinging in the elections this year. Two out of five (42%) said there was more mudslinging and negative campaigning compared to previous elections. Another 36% said there was about the same amount as past campaigns, and only 12% said there was less mudslinging and negative campaigning compared to previous elections.

These same respondents were not optimistic about the tone of the 2024 presidential campaign. A large majority (60%) of North Carolina residents said they expect more mudslinging and negative campaigning in the 2024 presidential election than in 2022. Another 21% expect the same amount, and only 9% expect less mudslinging negative campaigning.

North Carolinians do not expect relations to improve between the political parties in Washington, D.C., or in Raleigh in 2023. A near majority (47%) of these respondents said they expect relations between Democrats and Republicans to get worse in the coming year, while about a third (29%) said the same thing about the political parties in Raleigh. About one-third (31%) of North Carolina residents said relations in D.C. will be about the same between the parties, and 45% said the same thing about the parties in Raleigh. In each case, only 11% of the North Carolina residents said relations will get better.

In fact, almost two-thirds (64%) of North Carolina residents said the Republicans and Democrats in Washington, D.C., will spend more time next year working against each other instead of working together to get things done, and a near majority (48%) of these same respondents said the same thing about the political parties in Raleigh. Only 15% and 23%, respectively, said that the parties in D.C. and Raleigh will spend more time working together.

North Carolinians appear more concerned about divisions in the country as a whole, than in North Carolina. A majority (54%) of North Carolina residents said that they think the American people are more divided than usual after the 2022 elections, while about one-third (35%) said that about North Carolinians as a whole. About one-quarter (27%) of these respondents said that the American people are not much more divided than usual, while almost two in five (39%) said that people in North Carolina are not much different than usual.

When it comes to policymaking in D.C., about half of North Carolina residents (48%) said leaders in Congress should take the lead in solving the nation’s problems rather than President Joe Biden (29%).

NC residents – Confidence in Elections (November 2022)

Now we would like to ask you about the 2022 elections. How much confidence do you have that the 2022 election results this year accurately reflect the votes that were cast? Would you say you have a lot of confidence, some confidence, or no confidence that the reported results accurately reflect the votes that were cast?

A lot of confidence – 32%

Some confidence – 39%

No confidence – 20%

Unsure – 9%

NC residents – Satisfaction with Candidates (November 2022)

How satisfied were you with the choices of candidates you had in the 2022 elections, would you say very satisfied, somewhat satisfied, or not at all satisfied?

Very satisfied – 20%

Somewhat satisfied – 49%

Not at all satisfied – 18%

Unsure – 13%

NC residents – Mudslinging and Negativity in 2022 (November 2022)

Compared to past elections, would you say that this year there was more mudslinging or negative campaigning or less mudslinging or negative campaigning?

More – 42%

About the same amount – 36%

Less – 12%

Unsure – 10%

NC residents – Mudslinging and Negativity in 2024 (November 2022)

Do you think that the presidential election in 2024 will have more mudslinging or negative campaigning than this election or will there be less mudslinging and negative campaigning?

More – 60%

About the same amount – 21%

Less – 9%

Unsure – 11%

NC residents – Republicans and Democrats in D.C. (November 2022)

Do you think relations between Republicans and Democrats in Washington will get better in the coming year, get worse, or stay the same as they are now?

Get better – 11%

Stay about the same – 31%

Get worse – 47%

Unsure – 11%

NC residents – Republicans and Democrats in Raleigh (November 2022)

What about here in North Carolina? Do you think relations between Republicans and Democrats in Raleigh will get better in the coming year, get worse, or stay the same as they are now?

Get better – 11%

Stay about the same – 45%

Get worse – 29%

Unsure – 14%

NC residents – Republicans and Democrats Working Together in D.C. (November 2022)

Do you think Republicans and Democrats in Washington will spend more time next year working against each other or working together to get things done?

Working against each other – 64%

Working together – 15%

Unsure – 21%

NC residents – Republicans and Democrats Working in Raleigh (November 2022)

What about here in North Carolina? Do you think Republicans and Democrats in Raleigh will spend more time next year working against each other or working together to get things done?

Working against each other – 48%

Working together – 23%

Unsure – 30%

NC residents – American People, United or Divided (November 2022)

Now, thinking about the American people as a whole after the 2022 elections, do you think that people in the U.S. are more united, more divided, or not much different than usual?

More united – 9%

Not much different than usual – 27%

More divided – 54%

Unsure – 10%

NC residents – North Carolina’s People, United or Divided (November 2022)

Now, thinking about North Carolina's people as a whole after the 2022 elections, do you think that people in North Carolina are more united, more divided, or not much different than usual?

More united – 14%

Not much different than usual – 39%

More divided – 35%

Unsure – 13%

NC residents – Who should solve U.S. Problems (November 2022)

Who in Washington do you think should take the lead in solving the nation's problems - President Biden or leaders in Congress?

President Biden – 29%

Leaders in Congress – 48%

Unsure – 23%

The most recent HPU Poll of 1,015 respondents was fielded by the High Point University Survey Research Center on Nov. 10 through Nov. 17, as an online survey using a panel of respondents recruited and maintained by Dynata. Dynata sent invitations to its panel of N.C. respondents and the SRC collected responses on its Qualtrics platform. The SRC did all data analysis. The online sample is from a panel of respondents, and their participation does not adhere to usual assumptions associated with random selection. Therefore, it is not appropriate to assign a classic margin of sampling error for the results. In this case, the SRC provides a credibility interval of plus or minus 3.2 percentage points to account for a traditional 95% confidence interval for the estimates (plus or minus 3.1 percentage points) and a design effect of 1.1 (based on the weighting). The data is weighed toward population estimates for age, gender, race/ethnicity and education based on U.S. Census numbers for North Carolina. Factors such as question wording and other methodological choices in conducting survey research can introduce additional errors into the findings of opinion polls.

Further results and methodological details from the most recent survey and past surveys can be found at the Survey Research Center website. The materials online include past press releases as well as memos summarizing the findings (including approval ratings) for each poll since 2010.

The HPU Poll reports methodological details in accordance with the standards set out by AAPOR’s Transparency Initiative, and the HPU Survey Research Center is a Charter Member of the Initiative. See more information here.

You can follow the HPU Poll on Twitter here.

Dr. Martin Kifer, chair and associate professor of political science, serves as the director of the HPU Poll, and Brian McDonald is the associate director of the HPU Poll.