RALEIGH, NC (WECT) – A new poll
released Thursday shows there are some people in North Carolina who believe
being gay should be a crime.
Public Policy Polling asked more than
660 people if they thought being gay should be a felony. While an overwhelming majority (85%) answered
it should not, 8% of the respondents said "being gay should be a felony", while
another 6% said they are "not sure". The poll was done May 10-13, the days
after voters in North Carolina approved a Constitutional Amendment defining
marriage as between one man and one woman.
A response to the same-sex marriage
question in the poll mirrored the results of the state's primary vote. 58% of people in the survey said same-sex
marriage should be illegal, close to the 61% who voted "For" the amendment in
the primary election. Voters were split (46-46) on whether they support
allowing same sex couples to form civil unions with the same legal rights as
marriage.
The PPP poll also showed Governor Bev Perdue
and state lawmakers sharing high disapproval numbers. Just 31% of voters polled
approved of Perdue's performance as governor, which is down from a 35% mark in
a similar poll done in March. Perdue's
57% disapproval rate is the worst of any Governor in recent PPP polling.
Digging deeper, Democrats only narrowly approve (50% approve/34% disapprove) of
the job she's doing while Republicans are almost unanimous (7/87) in their
opposition.
Senator Kay Hagan of North Carolina fared equally dismally, showing a 31% job approval rate in the poll.
Job approval numbers for the General Assembly have also dropped since March, from 18% to 17%. Democratic lawmakers do have a slightly higher approval rating of 33% compared to Republicans, at 31%. If an election took place today, voters would favor Democratic legislative candidates over Republicans by 46-41.
PPP also polled the issue of same-sex marriage in North Carolina. 58% of voters polled think same-sex marriage should be illegal, which is close to the 61% that voted last week to approve then Constitutional Amendment defining Marriage in North Carolina.
However, the poll showed movement in African-American voters across North Carolina. 55% of African-Americans polled now believe same-sex couples should either be allowed to marry or form civil unions, which is up 11 points from the last statewide same-sex marriage poll conducted May 6. In the pre-primary poll, a majority (51%) of African-Americans said
there should be no legal recognition of gay couples in North Carolina, but that number has dropped to 39%.
PPP polled more than 660 voters from May 10-13. Click here to read the specifics of this poll.
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