RALEIGH – A new statewide poll found 51% of North Carolina adults say their life and financial standing have worsened since the 2024 election, while likely voters ranked the economy and health care as their top issues in the November midterms.
SurveyUSA conducted the poll for WRAL-TV in Raleigh and WSOC-TV in Charlotte from Oct. 7 through Oct. 11 and released the results Wednesday. Seventeen percent of adults said their standing had improved since the 2024 election, and 32% said it was unchanged.
On a 1-to-10 scale, 643 likely voters or people who had already voted gave the economy an average importance score of 8.8 and health care an 8.6. Crime, national security and international conflicts, and defending democracy each averaged 7.9. Education followed at 7.7, and mental health and addiction at 7.5.
The economy and health care led among supporters of both major U.S. Senate candidates. Voters supporting Democrat Roy Cooper rated the economy at 9.0 and health care at 8.8. Supporters of Republican Michael Whatley rated the economy at 8.6 and health care at 8.3. The largest gap appeared on immigration, which Whatley voters rated 8.2 and Cooper voters rated 5.9, according to the poll tables.
Among all 900 adults surveyed, 44% said they were optimistic about their family’s economic outlook for the next year, 37% were pessimistic and 19% were unsure. SurveyUSA said the seven-point gap between optimism and pessimism was the narrowest in five measurements it has conducted over six years.
Among the 462 respondents who said their standing had worsened, 52% named President Donald Trump as most responsible. Twenty-seven percent chose all of the listed political actors, 9% chose Democrats in Congress, 7% chose Republicans in Congress and 4% chose local politicians. Those results describe respondents’ perceptions and do not establish who caused their economic circumstances.
The survey used an online nonprobability panel supplied by Lucid Holdings. Results were weighted to demographic and party-registration targets. The report lists 778 registered voters and 643 likely voters or people who had already voted within the adult sample. Credibility intervals vary by question and subgroup; SurveyUSA lists a 2.9-point interval for the full adult sample and a 5.9-point interval for the 462-person subgroup that reported being worse off.
North Carolina’s in-person early-voting period begins Thursday and runs through 3 p.m. Oct. 31. Election Day is Nov. 3. The poll offers a snapshot of voter priorities and attitudes during the closing weeks of the campaign, not a prediction of turnout or election results.
Sources
- SurveyUSA North Carolina issue-priorities and economic-outlook poll, released Oct. 14
- WRAL report on the poll findings and methodology, Oct. 14
- North Carolina State Board of Elections early-voting guidance, Oct. 9
Photo Credit: Raleigh skyline photograph by Quintin Soloviev via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0. Cropped for the NCPN news card. Context image.
Editor’s Note: This article was drafted with the assistance of artificial intelligence and was reviewed and fact-checked by a member of the NC Political News editorial team before publication.