(The Center Square) – Voters don’t want to see a 2024 presidential election with President Joe Biden against former President Donald Trump, says a North Carolina poll released Thursday.
The conservative-leaning John Locke Foundation’s August Civitas Poll, measuring 600 likely general election voters in the state, found only 29% wanted Trump to return to the White House. It was 18% wanting Biden in a second term.
“I would be concerned about running Biden for president again if I were the Democratic Party,” said Donald Bryson, the CEO of the Locke Foundation. “It is certainly abnormal to see support for an incumbent president so low, and a 58% job disapproval.”
The poll was conducted Sunday and Monday via live calls and texts. It carries a ±3.99% margin of error.
In approval ratings, Biden is at 40.8% and Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper 44.8%.
The Republican majority of the Legislature gained nearly a point in approval since June, during which time it was repeatedly overridden vetoes by Cooper while still yet to pass a state budget that was due July 1. Asked to choose a Democrat or Republican for the Legislature in 2024, respondents said “definitely the Republican” 46.7% of the time – up from 46.0% in June – while “definitely the Democrat” dropped from 32.8% in June to 31.8% this week.
Change was similar in endorsing the GOP for seats in Congress.
Of 2024 gubernatorial candidates, the survey gave best numbers in both name recognition and favorable opinion to Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson. Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein was next.
The poll says 54.6% support legalizing casino gambling, and 75.7% would support allowing voters to decide yes or no via a statewide referendum.
On a question of whether the U.S. was headed in the right direction or off on the wrong track, only 16.3% said it was “mostly the right direction.” It was 51.2% for “definitely the wrong track” and another 20.8% for “mostly the wrong track.”
There were 95% who recognized spending more money on higher prices for food, and 61.1% said they believed it to be the result of increased fuel and energy costs. Nearly 44% blamed government policies.
On questions about Trump, 47.3% think he did something illegal and 54% think the U.S. Department of Justice is motivated by partisan politics. Only 28.2% said it was “definitely nonpartisan.”
Describing themselves, respondents put the poll’s demographics at 58.8% age 50 or more; 35% Democrat, 32.4% Republican and 30.7% independent; 45.8% conservative, 26.6% moderate and 23.9% liberal; and 44% rural, 42.6% suburban, and 13.4% urban. In 2020, they voted 46.9% for Trump and 45.9% for Biden.
North Carolina has more than 7.3 million of its roughly 10.7 million population registered to vote. Through Saturday, the breakdown of voting blocs is led by those unaffiliated (36.2%), followed by Democrats (33%) and Republicans (30.1%).
