HPU Poll: Approval Ratings for Trump and Cooper

HIGH POINT, N.C., Feb. 28, 2017 – The second High Point University Poll of 2017 finds that North Carolinians give President Donald Trump the same job approval rating that they did in the first poll of the year, at 36 percent, and Gov. Roy Cooper holds an approval rating of 44 percent while a large majority of those polled continue to say the country is headed in the wrong direction.

A little more than half (55 percent) of North Carolina residents say they disapprove of the job Trump is doing as president, compared to 52 percent who said the same thing in early February’s HPU Poll.

About one in five (22 percent) of these same North Carolina residents say they disapprove of Cooper’s job performance, with a third (34 percent) refusing to offer an opinion either way. This is about the same as the early February poll results, where 46 percent approved of the governor’s job performance, 21 percent disapproved and 33 percent did not offer an opinion one way or another.

Three out of five (60 percent) North Carolinians say the country is on the wrong track, which is not significantly different from the 61 percent who said the same thing in early February.

Thirty-nine percent of these North Carolinians say that the country is better off than it was eight years ago compared to the 49 percent who say that the country is worse off. Thirty-six percent said the country was better off when the HPU Poll asked the same question in early February.

In other findings, about one out of five (22 percent) North Carolinians approve of how the U.S. Congress is doing its job. The early February poll found similar results with 23 percent.

The North Carolina General Assembly had a job approval rating of 29 percent with 45 percent disapproving and almost one-third (26 percent) refusing to offer a view either way. The result is about the same as the 27 percent approval rating reported in the early February HPU Poll.

“North Carolinians haven’t changed their opinion about our Commander in Chief,” says Brian McDonald, associate director of the HPU Poll and adjunct instructor. “With little over a month since the inauguration, we will continue to track how the public views his conduct in office.”

All adults – Country Direction (February 2017)

Do you think things in this country are generally going in the right direction or do you feel things have gotten pretty seriously off on the wrong track?

Right direction – 31 percent

Wrong track – 60 percent

Don’t know – 9 percent

(All adult (North Carolina resident) sample surveyed Feb. 18 – 23, 2017, n = 451 and margin of sampling error approximately = +/- 4.6 percent)

 All adults – Country better or worse off (February 2017)

Would you say that the country is better off or worse off than it was eight years ago?

Better off – 39 percent

Worse off – 49 percent

About the same – 6 percent

Don’t know/refused – 7 percent

(All adult (North Carolina resident) sample surveyed Feb. 18 – 23, 2017, n = 451 and margin of sampling error approximately = +/- 4.6 percent)

All adults – Presidential Job Approval (February 2017)

Do you approve or disapprove of the way that Donald Trump is handling his job as president?

Approve – 36 percent

Disapprove – 55 percent

Don’t know/refused – 10 percent

(All adult (North Carolina resident) sample surveyed Feb. 18 – 23, 2017, n = 451 and margin of sampling error approximately = +/- 4.6 percent)

All adults – Governor Job Approval (February 2017)

Do you approve or disapprove of the way that Roy Cooper is handling his job as governor?

Approve – 44 percent

Disapprove – 22 percent

Don’t know/refused – 34 percent

(All adult (North Carolina resident) sample surveyed Feb. 18 – 23, 2017, n = 451 and margin of sampling error approximately = +/- 4.6 percent)

All adults – Congressional Job Approval (February 2017)

Do you approve or disapprove of the way that the U.S. Congress is handling its job?

Approve – 22 percent

Disapprove – 61 percent

Don’t know/refused – 17 percent

(All adult (North Carolina resident) sample surveyed Feb. 18 – 23, 2017, n = 451 and margin of sampling error approximately = +/- 4.6 percent)

All adults – N.C. General Assembly Job Approval (February 2017)

Do you approve or disapprove of the way that the North Carolina General Assembly is handling its job?

 Approve – 29 percent

Disapprove – 45 percent

Don’t know/refused – 26 percent

(All adult (North Carolina resident) sample surveyed Feb. 18 – 23, 2017, n = 451 and margin of sampling error approximately = +/- 4.6 percent)

The most recent HPU Poll was fielded by live interviewers at the High Point University Survey Research Center calling on Feb. 18-23, 2017. The responses from a sample of all North Carolina counties came from 451 adults with landline or cellular telephones. The survey has an estimated margin of sampling error of approximately 4.6 percentage points for all adult respondents. The data is weighted toward population estimates for cellular and landline telephone use, age, gender, race, and party identification. In addition to sampling error, factors such as question wording and other methodological choices in conducting survey research can introduce additional error into the findings of opinion polls. Details from this survey are available at http://www.highpoint.edu/src/files/2017/02/51memoA.pdf.

Further results and methodological details from the most recent survey and past studies can be found at the Survey Research Center website at http://www.highpoint.edu/src/. The materials online include past press releases as well as memos summarizing the findings (including approval ratings) for each poll since 2010.

The HPU Poll reports methodological details in accordance with the standards set out by AAPOR’s Transparency Initiative, and the HPU Survey Research Center is a Charter Member of the Initiative. For more information, see

http://transparency.aapor.org/index.php/transparency.

You can follow the HPU Poll on Twitter at https://twitter.com/HPUSurveyCenter.

Dr. Martin Kifer, associate professor of political science, serves as the director of the HPU Poll, and Brian McDonald serves as the associate director of the HPU Poll.

At High Point University, every student receives an extraordinary education in an inspiring environment with caring people.® HPU, located in the Piedmont Triad region of North Carolina, is a liberal arts institution with more than 4,800 undergraduate and graduate students. It is ranked No. 1 by U.S. News and World Report for Best Regional Colleges in the South and No. 1 for Most Innovative Regional Colleges in the South. HPU was named the No. 4 private school in N.C. for the best return on investment, and it is a 2016-2017 College of Distinction. The university offers 48 undergraduate majors, 51 undergraduate minors and 13 graduate degree programs. It is a member of the NCAA, Division I and the Big South Conference. Visit High Point University on the Web at highpoint.edu.