There has been no shortage of coverage from Townhall over how poorly President Joe Biden's approval ratings have been as the American people must contend with just over eight months of his presidency. On Tuesday, High Point University released the results of their poll among 876 North Carolinian adults, 714 of whom are registered to vote.
Among all adults, 38 percent approve of the job Biden is doing while 48 percent disapprove, with 14 percent unsure. The approval and disapproval rates among registered voters are both slightly higher, with 41 percent approving while 48 percent disapprove because unsure respondents make up less, at 11 percent.
Respondents were also asked how they think Biden is handling the issues of COVID-19, health care, the economy, "Duties as Commander in Chief of the military," and Afghanistan. On all issues, among both adults and registered voters, President Biden has a higher disapproval rating than approval rating, with one exception. When it comes to how registered voters think the president is handling COVID-19, 46 percent approval while 46 percent also disapprove.
And, as Americans are feeling as a whole according to other polls, North Carolinians feel the country is on the "wrong track," with 60 percent of adults and 61 percent of registered voters saying so. When it comes to the respondents feel it's going in the "right direction," 28 percent of adults and 30 percent of registered voters felt optimistic enough to say so.
The poll was conducted September 10-September 24. As mentioned above there were 876 North Carolinian adults, 714 of whom are registered to vote. The credibility interval for total sample is approximately plus or minus 3.6 percentage points.
The poll also asked respondents to weigh in on Gov. Roy Cooper (D-NC), with the results revealing that he had higher approval ratings than President Biden, a member of his own party. Forty five percent of all adults said they approve of the job Cooper is doing, while 32 percent disapprove, and 23 percent had no opinion. For those registered voters, it's a similar situation with President Biden, as there are fewer respondents who are unsure. That breakdown is at 48 percent approval, 33 percent disapproval, and19 percent unsure.
Gov. Cooper was re-elected in 2020, with 51.5 percent to 47.0 percent from Republican Dan Forest. Cooper was first elected in 2016, after he beat Gov. Pat McCrory, a Republican, with 49.02 percent to the incumbent's 48.8 percent.
Former President Donald Trump won North Carolina in 2016 with 49.8 percent to Hillary Clinton's 46.2 percent, and in 2020 to 49.9 percent to President Biden's 48.6 percent.
According to Ballotpedia, North Carolina has picked the winner each time between 2000 and 2016, except for when Mitt Romney carried the state in 2012 by 50.4 percent to President Obama's 48.4 percent.
In an article that was published with CNBC on October 20 last year, in the final days leading up to the election, Kevin Breuninger wrote that "swing-state North Carolina is ‘smack in the middle’ of the 2020 election."
As Reagan and I have highlighted, Biden is performing poorly in another swing state as well, Iowa. His numbers are much more abysmal there, with 31 percent approving of the president's job, compared to double that who disapprove, at 62 percent.
In fact, Biden has higher disapproval numbers in all but 12 states, according to CIVIQS. The one swing state where he has a higher approval than disapproval rating is in New Hampshire. There, 47 percent of respondents approve compared to the 45 percent who disapprove. However, as Reagan recently highlighted, the popular sitting governor, Chris Sununu, a Republican, is outpolling incumbent Sen. Maggie Hassan in a hypothetical matchup.
