The recent Catawba-YouGov Survey shows the top concerns on the minds of North Carolinians. It also highlights strong partisan differences.
The survey of 1,000 respondents 18 and older points to four big concerns, both now and six months into the future: food prices, consumer goods, housing, and the nation’s economy. Pocketbook issues — ones experienced by North Carolinians every day — are often at the forefront of people’s minds.
But, within those economic topics is a substantial partisan divide. Self-identified Democrats hold a higher level of concern over national, statewide, and local economies, compared with self-identified Republicans, whose level of concern was in some instances 20 points lower.
Par for the course, says Catawba College political scientist Michael Bitzer. He calls it a common reflection of what exists in a very divided North Carolina, with Democrats and Republicans sorted into their rigid camps.
Based on the survey, 84 percent of self-identified Democrats are concerned with the ability of people seeking employment to find work. Just 60 percent of Republicans express similar concern.