In a new High Point University Poll, North Carolinians gave Gov. Roy Cooper a job approval rating of 49%, while 28% said they disapprove and 24% did not offer an opinion either way.

 

These same respondents gave President Joe Biden a job approval rating of 33%. More than half (52%) of North Carolina residents said they disapprove of the job President Biden is doing.

 

About one-quarter (27%) of North Carolinians also said they approve of how the U.S. Supreme Court is handling its job while half (50%) said they disapprove.

 

Almost three-quarters (71%) of North Carolinians said the country is on the wrong track, while about one in five (18%) of those same respondents said the country is headed in the right direction. Only 12% did not offer an opinion either way.

 

The poll asked how knowledgeable people were about the major candidates for the U.S. Senate election in North Carolina for the 2022 midterm elections. About one in five (19%) rated their knowledge a 9 or 10 (using a zero to 10 scale, where 10 is very knowledgeable). While 14% rated their knowledge low at a 0 or 1.

 

About two in five (40%) North Carolinians said that they were very interested (rated as a 9 or 10) in this year's U.S. Senate election in North Carolina. They based their rating on a scale from zero to 10, where 0 is not interested at all and 10 is very interested. While 11% rated their interest low at a 0 or 1.

 

In a list of issues, the poll asked North Carolinians regardless of who they support (Ted Budd or Cheri Beasley), which of the two candidates for the U.S. Senate, would do the best job of handling each of them. Of the issues tested, Beasley had an advantage on reducing racial tension (18% more), preserving Medicare (14% more), promoting education (13% more), providing quality health care (11% more), stopping the spread of COVID-19 (11% more), protecting Social Security (10% more), protecting democracy (9% more), standing up for North Carolina (4% more) and confirming Supreme Court justices (2% more). Budd has an advantage on fighting terrorism (14% more), protecting the U.S. from foreign threats (12% more), managing immigration (11% more), supporting veterans (7% more), reducing crime (5% more), federal taxes (5% more), improving economic conditions (3% more) and creating jobs (2% more).

This HPU Poll also asked North Carolinians regardless of whether they support Budd or Beasley, which of the two U.S. Senate candidates fit several phrases best. Of the phrases tested, Beasley had an advantage on connecting well with ordinary people (10% more), willing to work with the other party (10% more), supports American democracy (9% more), cares about people like you (8% more), smart (8% more), honest and truthful (6% more), has middle class values (5% more), will do what's right, not what's popular (5% more), and has North Carolina values (3% more). On several characteristics, the candidates were basically tied, such as strong leader (1% more for Beasley), takes action rather than just talking (1% more for Beasley), and good judgment in a crisis (0% difference). Budd has an advantage on understanding the economy (2% more).

 

When asked about how things were going in the U.S. Congress, only about one out of five (21%) of North Carolinians said they approved of the job Congress is doing. Almost three out of five (58%) said they disapproved of how Congress is doing its job.

 

Changing focus, the HPU Poll also asked North Carolinians whether they thought the Democratic or Republican party in Washington, D.C., would do a better job handling a series of issues. Of the issues tested, Republicans had an advantage on issues such as gas prices (13% more), inflation (12% more), the economy in general (9% more), foreign policy in general (8% more), law enforcement (8% more), energy prices (7% more), taxes (6% more), and the war in Ukraine (4% more). Democrats had an advantage on issues such as

climate change (22% more), civil rights (18% more), the environment in general (17% more), health care in general (16% more), abortion (15% more), education (11% more),

COVID-19 (11% more), voting rights (11% more), protecting democracy (6% more), voting integrity (6% more) and school safety (3% more).

 

NC residents – Country Direction (October 2022)

 

Do you think things in this country are generally going in the right direction or do you feel things have gotten pretty seriously off track?

 

Right direction – 18%

Wrong track – 71%

Unsure – 12%

 

NC residents – Presidential Approval (October 2022)

 

Do you approve or disapprove of the way that Joe Biden is handling his job as president?

 

Approve – 33%

Disapprove – 52%

Unsure – 15%

 

NC residents – Governor Approval (October 2022)

 

Do you approve or disapprove of the way that Roy Cooper is handling his job as Governor?

 

Approve – 49%

Disapprove – 28%

Unsure – 24%

 

NC Residents – U.S. Supreme Court Approval (October 2022)

 

Do you approve or disapprove of the way that the United States Supreme Court is handling its job?

 

Approve – 27%

Disapprove – 50%

Unsure – 23%

 

NC residents – Midterm Election Knowledge (October 2022)

 

Thinking about the 2022 midterm elections, and using a zero (0) to ten (10) scale where 0 is not knowledgeable at all and 10 is very knowledgeable, in general, how knowledgeable would you say you are about the major candidates for the U.S. Senate election North Carolina?
	All Adults
0 - Not knowledgeable at all	11
1	3
2	5
3	5
4	6
5	13
6	8
7	13
8	14
9	7
10 very knowledgeable	12
Unsure	4

 

NC residents – Midterm Election Interest (October 2022)

 

Now, using a zero (0) to ten (10) scale where 0 is Not Interested At All and 10 is Very Interested, how interested would you say you are in this year's U.S. Senate election in North Carolina?
	All Adults
0 - Not Interested At All	9
1	2
2	3
3	5
4	4
5	10
6	6
7	9
8	11
9	8
10 - Very Interested	32
Unsure	4

 

NC residents – Issues and U.S. Senate Candidates (October 2022)

 

Next is another list of phrases. Regardless of who you support, which of these two candidates for U.S. Senate, [Ted Budd or Cheri Beasley], do you think would do the best job of handling each of these issues:
All adults
	Cheri Beasley	Ted Budd	Beasley - Budd	Unsure
Reducing racial tension	40	22	18	39
Preserving Medicare	39	25	14	36
Promoting education	40	27	13	33
Providing quality health care	37	26	11	37
Stopping the spread of COVID-19	32	21	11	47
Protecting Social Security	37	27	10	36
Protecting democracy	38	29	9	33
Standing up for North Carolina	36	32	4	33
Confirming Supreme Court Justices	32	30	2	38
Creating jobs	30	32	-2	38
Improving economic conditions	31	34	-3	35
Reducing crime	28	33	-5	40
Federal taxes	28	33	-5	39
Supporting veterans	29	36	-7	36
Managing immigration	25	36	-11	39
Protecting the U.S. from foreign threats	24	36	-12	39
Fighting terrorism	23	37	-14	40

 

NC residents – Personal Characteristics of U.S. Senate Candidates (October 2022)

Below is a list of phrases. Regardless of who you support, which of these two candidates for the U.S. Senate, [Ted Budd or Cheri Beasley], do you think the phrase fits best?
All adults
	Cheri Beasley	Ted Budd	Beasley - Budd	Both	Neither	Unsure
Connects well with ordinary people	31	21	10	14	13	21
Willing to work with the other party	28	18	10	9	20	26
Supports American democracy	33	24	9	14	9	20
Cares about people like you	31	23	8	10	16	21
Smart	27	19	8	25	9	21
Honest and truthful	28	22	6	8	20	23
Has middle class values	29	24	5	11	14	22
Will do what's right, not what's popular	30	25	5	7	16	22
Has North Carolina values	28	25	3	15	10	21
Strong leader	27	26	1	14	11	23
Takes action rather than just talking	26	25	1	10	14	25
Good judgment in a crisis	26	26	0	10	12	27
Understands the economy	24	26	-2	15	12	23

 

NC residents – Approval of the U.S. Congress (October 2022)

 

Do you approve or disapprove of the way that the U.S. Congress is handling its job?

 

Approve – 21%

Disapprove – 58%

Unsure – 22%

 

NC residents – Parties in D.C. Dealing with Issues (October 2022)

 

Below is a list of issues that political parties in Washington, D.C. might have to deal with. For each issue, please tell me whether you think [Democratic Party or the Republican Party] would do a better job dealing with this issue.
All adults
	Democratic Party	Republican Party	Dem - Rep	Both Equally	Neither	Unsure
Climate change	40	18	22	13	14	15
Civil rights	41	23	18	13	9	14
The environment in general	39	22	17	13	10	16
Health care in general	40	24	16	13	10	14
Abortion	41	26	15	10	10	13
Education	37	26	11	14	8	15
COVID-19	32	21	11	18	12	17
Voting rights	38	27	11	14	9	14
Protecting democracy	36	30	6	14	7	13
Voting integrity	34	28	6	12	11	15
School safety	31	28	3	16	11	14
The war in Ukraine	24	28	-4	16	14	18
Taxes	29	35	-6	10	12	14
Energy prices	26	33	-7	12	13	16
Foreign policy in general	25	33	-8	15	10	17
Law enforcement	27	35	-8	14	9	15
The economy in general	27	36	-9	11	12	14
Inflation	25	37	-12	11	13	15
Gas prices	24	37	-13	13	13	14

 

The most recent HPU Poll was fielded by the High Point University Survey Research Center on Oct. 19 through Oct. 26, 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 3.0 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.