A majority of North Carolina voters disapprove the job of Republican-controlled General Assembly and want Democrats to control the State Legislature after the November election, according to a poll.
According to an Elon University poll released Thursday, only 21% of North Carolinians approve of the work the state Legislature is doing versus 37% who disapprove, and 41% who said they are unsure.
The poll shows that this dissatisfaction with the Legislature job is dividing even Republicans. Among that group of respondents, only 30% have a favorable opinion of the Legislature, and 29% disapprove of its work.
According to the same poll, 41% of respondents prefer Democrats to control the state Legislature compared to 37 percent who prefer Republicans.
Divided by political affiliation, 85 percent of Republicans want their party to control the Legislature, versus 91 percent of Democrats.
Among independents surveyed, 48% do not want any party to have control of the General Assembly, 21% want Democrats and 15 percent want Republicans. 16 percent said they were not sure.
OTHER POLLS SHOW THE SAME TREND
Another poll released by Catawba College on March 31st also shows that a majority of voters favor Democrats in the Legislature ahead of the midterm elections.
According to that poll, Democrats have a 43 to 37% lead in the Senate and 43 to 35% lead in the House of Representatives.
Another poll released by the nonprofit Helthier United on March 27th shows the same pattern among North Carolina voters.
According to the poll, 48.5% of voters responded that they would vote for Democrats in the election for the state Legislature, while 37.8% indicated that they would vote for Republicans.
The data from these polls is relevant because all 120 seats in the state Legislature will be on the ballot for the November election.
Republicans have controlled both chambers of the state’s General Assembly since 2010, but in the 2024 elections Democrats manage to break the supermajority in the House of Representatives.
In the Senate, Republicans have a veto-proof supermajority of 30 to 20 seats, while in the House of Representatives they have a simple majority of 71 to 49, that is, one seat less short of the supermajority.
That situation forces Republicans to convince at least one Democrat in the House of Representatives to override Democratic Gov. Josh Stein’s vetoes, something they achieved with 8 of the 14 bills vetoed in the current legislative session.
The three Democratic lawmakers who voted with Republicans to override Governor Stein’s vetoes lost their primary elections and will not be on the November ballot.
Senate Leader Phil Berger and five other Republican lawmakers will also not appear on the ballot after losing their primaries.
