Following five weeks of drama surrounding the nation’s presidential election, two out of three North Carolinians are now following politics more closely, and they have strong feelings about creating new standards and procedures for future elections.
Those are among the findings of a new Elon Poll, conducted Dec. 4-6 by the Elon Institute for Politics and Public Affairs. The poll sampled the opinions of 518 adults in the state and has a margin of error of ± 4.4 percent.
The presidential election controversy has affected the attitudes of North Carolina citizens in both positive and negative ways:
- 67 percent are now following politics more closely than in the past
- those polled were evenly split over the fairness of the national vote count (46 percent said the count was fair; 46 percent said it was unfair)
- at the same time, 62 percent said the federal government should pass laws to establish the same ballots and voting procedures in all states for presidential elections (31 percent said voting procedures should be left to state and local officials)
- 47 percent said the recent events have weakened their confidence in our democratic system (25 percent said it had strengthened their confidence)
- at the same time, 50 percent said the controversy will not seriously hurt President-elect Bush’s ability to be an effective national leader (36 percent said his ability to lead would be hurt)
- those polled were evenly split over whether the Electoral College should be retained (46 percent in favor, 47 percent favor election by popular vote)
- 63 percent said the television networks should stop making election-night predictions about the outcome of the vote; an additional 12 percent said the networks should wait longer to make predictions
“I see a lot of good news in these poll results,” says Sharon Spray, assistant professor of political science and director of the Elon Poll. “In October, our poll indicated that people were not following politics closely. Three weeks before the election, most people had still not decided who to vote for in nearly every state race. This new poll shows that people are more tuned-in to the issues and more concerned about our democratic process.”
In questions related to North Carolina issues, education continues to be the top concern of citizens. A mid-October Elon Poll indicated that 51 percent named education as the top state policy issue. In this poll, 68% said Governor-elect Mike Easley, not President-elect Bush, would have the greatest impact on education in North Carolina.
On other state issues:
- 61 percent said they favor a state lottery
- 68 percent said regulations on urban growth should be left to local government, not state regulation
- 75 percent said if the federal government takes no action on prescription drug programs for senior citizens, the state should take action on the issue
This poll is the third conducted by the Elon Institute for Politics and Public Affairs since it was established in September. The non-partisan Elon Poll conducts frequent state-wide scientific telephone polls on issues of importance to North Carolinians. The poll results are shared with media, citizens and researchers to facilitate representative democracy and public policy making through the better understanding of the opinions and needs of North Carolina citizens.
The Elon Poll is conducted by students who work under the direction of faculty members in the political science department. A computerized polling center located on campus is equipped with sophisticated statistical software and 27 telephone polling stations.