RALEIGH, N.C. – A new poll released today by the Civitas Institute that shows nearly three-fourths of voters disapprove of Gov. Bev Perdue’s journey to Japan and China.

Perdue returns from her trade mission today.

The live caller poll of 600 likely 2010 voters were asked if they approved or disapproved of Gov. Perdue spending $80,000 to go on a trade mission to Japan and China.

A majority of voters,71.8 percent of them, said they disapproved of Perdue’s trip. Only 20.7 percent of voters approved and 7.5 percent said they were unsure.

“While Perdue said this trip was about recruiting jobs, all the polled voters see is another wasteful expenditure of their tax dollars,” said Civitas Institute Executive Director Francis De Luca. “Perdue will need to show some tangible results of the trip in order for the public to think it was worthwhile.”

The trip was disliked even by a majority of Perdue’s supporters; with 53.8 percent of them who said they had a favorable opinion of the Governor also said they disapproved of the spending of money on the trade mission.

“When your own base of supporters think it was a bad idea, it’s pretty clear that her trip was not well received,” added De Luca.

Full results of the poll will be revealed at the Civitas Institute’s monthly poll luncheon on Thursday, Oct. 29 at the Clarion Hotel in downtown Raleigh.

Full text of question: Now I am going to read you a list of issues affecting North Carolina, would you please tell me if you approve or disapprove of each of the following?

“Governor Bev Perdue spending $80,000 to go on a trade mission to Japan and China?”
APPROVE – 20.7%
Strongly Approve – 9.2%
Somewhat Approve – 11.5%
DISAPPROVE – 71.8%
Somewhat Disapprove – 13.8%
Strongly Disapprove – 58.0%
DON’T KNOW – 7.5%

This poll of 600 likely general election voters in North Carolina was conducted October 20-21, 2009 by McLaughlin and Associates of Alexandria, Virginia. All interviews were conducted via telephone by professional interviewers. Interview selection was random within predetermined geographic units. These units were structured to correlate with actual voter distributions in a statewide general election. The poll of 600 likely general election voters has an accuracy of +/- 4.0% at a 95% confidence interval.

RALEIGH, NC – A new study by the consulting firm Arduin, Laffer & Moore (ALM) Econometrics and released by Raleigh’s Civitas Institute concludes that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) will actually cause North Carolina to lose up to 67,000 jobs over the next two years.

NBC17 is checking with Gov. Bev Perdue for the other side. Check back here for updates on this story.

The study, entitled “The Economic Impact of Federal Spending on State Economic Performance: A North Carolina Perspective” concludes, “In North Carolina, between 51.1 thousand and 66.9 thousand job losses can be expected to occur during the time that ARRA funds are being spent.”

Co-authors of the report include Arthur Laffer, former member of President Reagan’s Economic Policy Board and creator of the famous “Laffer Curve;” and Donna Arduin, former top fiscal advisor to Gov. Schwarzenegger in California and governors in Florida, New York and Michigan.

As Arduin explains, “Government does not create anything – it merely redistributes wealth by taking money from those who pay taxes – those who are creating jobs and wealth – and spending it with bureaucratic inefficiency, reducing the incentive for taxpayers to save, invest, and employ people.”

Government stimulus schemes not only fail to create any net new jobs, but actually reduce job growth. According to Civitas Budget and Tax Policy Analyst Brian Balfour, “Because government projects necessarily only consume resources, fewer scarce inputs are thus available for productive investment. A lower level of productive investment translates into slower economic growth and fewer jobs.”

North Carolina already has its own case study in government “stimulus” spending. Gov. Mike Easley “fast-tracked”’ nearly $750 million in state government capital improvement projects back in January, promising “these projects will produce nearly 26,000 new jobs.” In contrast to such bold claims, North Carolina has since lost 17,000 construction jobs – a contraction of roughly 8 percent – and 71,000 jobs overall.

“North Carolinians should not be fooled by grand promises of government-orchestrated economic stimulus and job creation, whether from D.C. politicians or state officials,” warned Balfour. “The findings of this study along with the disappointing results of Easley’s ‘stimulus’ show that government stimulus schemes do more harm than good.”

The study also warns of the added burden to the state as it expanded unemployment insurance benefits in order to receive ARRA funds, an observation underscored by recent media reports of the $925 million North Carolina borrowed from the federal government to meet its unemployment insurance obligations.

View “The Economic Impact of Federal Spending on State Economic Performance: A North Carolina Perspective.”

BY CIVITAS
RALEIGH, N.C. – With President Barack Obama set to address Congress Wednesday evening to plead his case for overhauling the health insurance and health care industry, a new Civitas Flash Poll released today finds voters deeply divided on their support for the plan.

According to the poll of 662 registered voters, nearly an identical number support the proposal as oppose it.  Of those surveyed, 47.6 percent said they somewhat or strongly supported the health care reform plan presented by President Obama and Congressional Democrats, 47 percent of voters said they were opposed to the plan and 5.4 percent said they were unsure.

“The health care proposal by the President and Congress has deeply divided the nation,” said Francis De Luca, executive director of the Civitas Institute.  “Feelings on the plan are quite intense, with very few people in the middle.  Basically, you either support the plan or you abhor it.”

A reflection of the deep divisions is that roughly three-fourths of voters said they either strongly supported (35.4%) or strongly opposed (40.6%) the plan.

“Candidate Obama pledged to be a uniting force for our country.  However, the actions and proposals by President Obama and the Democratic majority in Congress are driving the nation apart,” added De Luca.

Additionally, only 20.5 percent of voters think the cost of health care will go down and 27.3 percent of voters think the quality of their health care will get better if the President’s plan passes.

“Regardless of their support of the President’s proposals, very few think it will actually make things better.  It’s apparent much of the President’s support on the plan is not from people who think it will improve health care, but from their personal support of him,” concluded De Luca.

The Civitas Flash Poll study of 665 registered voters was conducted September 2-3 by Insider Advantage of Atlanta, Georgia.  It has a margin of error of +/- 3.9 percent.  Other factors such as weighting may introduce additional error.

WASHINGTON  – Slightly more than one-third of Americans have a favorable opinion of the Democratic-led Congress, a new poll said Wednesday in a clear warning to the majority party.

The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press said the 37 percent expressing a positive opinion represents a decline of 13 points since April.

The favorable percentage is one of the lowest in more than two decades of Pew surveys – if not the lowest, the poll said. The previous low was 40 percent in January, but the difference is not statistically significant because of the margin of error.

The overall percentage wasn’t the only warning for Democrats.

The poll found a major drop in intentions to vote Democratic in next year’s midterm elections. Forty-five percent of respondents said they would vote for a Democratic candidate in their district or lean Democratic, while 44 percent said they would vote or lean Republican. Four years ago the numbers favored Democrats 52 percent to 40 percent, as the party went on to gain control of Congress.

The bad news for Democrats isn’t a bonanza for Republicans. The survey found that favorable ratings for the GOP remain low at 40 percent.

Most of the shift in voting intentions occurred among political independents, who backed Democrats by a wide margin previously but now say they would back Republicans in their districts by 43 to 38 percent.

On specific issues, a separate Pew survey showed mixed results – with Democrats trusted more but with their leads narrowing. Democrats are viewed as more associated with honest and ethical governance, concern with average Americans and having better candidates. However 34 percent said Republicans could manage the federal government as well as Democrats, compared to 38 percent who favored Democrats. Two years ago, Democrats led by 44 to 32 percent.

The survey covered 11 policy issues, and Democrats held significant leads on seven. The parties were viewed about equally on handling the budget deficit, taxes and immigration, while Republicans had a slight lead on only one issue, handling terrorist threats at home.

The Aug. 20-27 survey on opinions of Congress contacted 2,003 adults nationwide, with a margin of error of plus-or-minus 2.5 percent.

The Aug. 27-30 issues survey contacted 1,005 adults and had a margin of error of plus-or-minus 3.5 percent.

The PPP says the issue of whether Bev Perdue should appear with Barack Obama on various campaign visits is moot.

The state’s first female governor isn’t getting any sympathy for women, according to the latest from Public Policy Polling.

RALEIGH, N.C. – As the deadline for passing a new budget nears one month overdue, a new poll released today by the Civitas Institute shows that an overwhelming majority of voters think legislators should stop getting paid until they complete their work on the state’s budget.

According to the live caller poll of 600 voters, 65 percent of voters thought that NC legislators should forego their paychecks if they miss the deadline of passing a budget by the end of the fiscal year.  27 percent said they should continue to get paid.  8 percent of voters were unsure.

“As budget negotiations drag on into the dog days of summer, voters obviously feel elected officials should complete the job they were sent to Raleigh to do,” said Civitas Institute Senior Legislative Analyst Chris Hayes.  “The only job required of the General Assembly is to adopt a state budget, if legislators are not going to do that on time, then they should not be compensated for a job they aren’t doing.”

The proposal is supported across all ages, races and political parties, and receives the highest support (75 percent) from government employees.

Full text of questions:

NC Legislators are supposed to pass a state budget by July 1st.  Do you think legislators should stop getting paid if they miss this deadline until they pass a budget?

Yes – 65%
No – 27%
Not Sure – 8%

The study of 600 registered voters was conducted July14-17, 2009 by Tel Opinion Research of Alexandria, Virginia.  All respondents were part of a fully representative sample of registered voters in North Carolina. For purposes of this study, voters we interviewed had to have voted in either the 2004, 2006 or 2008 general elections or were newly registered voters 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 either the 2004, 2006 or 2008 general elections or were newly registered voters since 2008.

RALEIGH, N.C. – Nearly two-thirds of North Carolina voters would support a new law giving them the ability to recall elected officials according to a new poll released Monday by the Civitas Institute.

According to the live caller poll of 600 voters, 64 percent would support a new law to allow voters to remove elected officials from office through a recall vote.  Only 21 percent would oppose a new law.  15 percent were not sure.

There are 19 other states with recall statutes that allow voters to remove elected officials from office.

When asked specifically if they would use a new recall provision to recall Governor Bev Perdue from office, 35 percent of voters said they would.  Less than half (48 percent) said they would not recall her, while 17 percent were not sure.

“Voter disgust with politicians is evident when almost two-thirds of voters say they would like to be able to recall elected officials” said Civitas Institute Senior Legislative Analyst Chris Hayes. “After just seven months in office Gov. Perdue has turned off voters such that a quarter of own party would recall her if they were able and over half the voters would at least consider removing her from office.”

Get More Information about Civitas Polling

Full text of questions:

Would you support or oppose a North Carolina law that would allow voters to remove elected officials from office through a recall vote?

Strongly Support – 41%
Somewhat Support – 23%
Somewhat Oppose – 11%
Strongly Oppose – 10%
Not Sure – 15%

If North Carolina had a law allowing voters to remove elected officials from office, would you vote to recall Governor Bev Perdue?

Yes – 35%
No – 48%
Not Sure – 17%

The study of 600 registered voters was conducted July14-17, 2009 by Tel Opinion Research of Alexandria, Virginia.  All respondents were part of a fully representative sample of registered voters in North Carolina. For purposes of this study, voters we interviewed had to have voted in either the 2004, 2006 or 2008 general elections or were newly registered voters 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 either the 2004, 2006 or 2008 general elections or were newly registered voters since 2008.

Recent PPP polls showed that when you ask voters straight up, 51% said the budget should be balanced solely by spending cuts while 32% said it should be a mixture of spending cuts and new taxes.