Right now, there aren’t many voters who view presidential candidates of either party in a very good light. A new poll out Friday from Public Policy Polling (D) shows the race in North Carolina to be a tight one, with President Obama locked in a dead heat with the major announced GOP candidates, but the Republicans have problems of their own: not one of them is close to having a positive favorability rating.
The survey shows the President’s job approval remains well underwater in the state, at 43 percent approval with 53 against, with 62 percent of independent voters disapproving along with 20 percent of Democrats. There’s also a huge gender gap: only 37 percent of men approve of his performance versus 61, with women breaking 48 – 46. But those numbers reflect the level of discontent nationally and are therefore somewhat unsurprising.
What is surprising is the low standing of GOP candidates in the eyes of the North Carolina electorate. That’s not to say that the race isn’t close. In fact, Obama is locked in a tie with Texas Gov. Rick Perry at 45 percent a piece, leads former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney 45 percent to 44, and only bests Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) 47 – 45. But each of those Republicans have high unfavorability ratings among NC voters: Perry is already seen unfavorably by 43 percent after only a few weeks on the trail (against 34 percent approval), Romney is well underwater at 28 – 52, and Bachmann is at 29 – 52. So if this is a low point for the President in terms of popularity, there’s room for Obama to outpace his opponents.
A look within the numbers show that the thesis that Perry will start to pull more conservative voters is proving true. Perry brings 5 percent more Republicans against Obama, but 2 points fewer in terms of independents than Romney. More self-identified conservatives also commit to voting for Perry, as do moderates, but only by a few points.
The PPP poll used 520 automated phone interviews with registered North Carolina voters conducted from September 1st to the 4th, with a sampling error of 4.3 percent.
